Enslaved - Isa
Tabu - TABU007 - 08/11/04
By Patrick Walsh
And so the plaudits for
Enslaved shall continue to grow, for with
Isa this band of Norwegians have not only improved immeasurably over 2003's
Below The Lights, but have created what is arguably a career best. Perhaps their overt Viking tendencies are taking a back seat these days, but when it results in such gems as can be found all over this album, was it ever going to be a cause for concern?
After the brief intro comes 'Lunar Force', kicking things off in a similar fashion to 'As Fire Swept Clean The Earth' before it.
Enslaved always have this knack of giving the listener a kick in the face to begin with, and 'Lunar Force' does just this, driving forward with it's sweeping bridge riff before winding down into all kinds of progged-up shenanigans, only to blast off again in all its fury. The title track features a guest appearance by
Darkthrone's Nocturno Culto, whose ever reliably spiteful rasp is juxtaposed between Grutle's clean vocal spurts in the mother of all epic song-endings. Indeed Grutle sounds more confident than ever before as a frontman, and when he sings he exudes a kind of laid back feeling which could be most likened to one Mr. Akerfeldt in his band's early days.
It all works wonderfully however, and
Isa is simply chock full of heart stopping moments of sheer power. Witness the amazing solo build up of 'Bounded By Allegience', or the delicate beauty of Grutle's vocals as he almost seems to mantra
i'll wait for you here on 'Violent Dawning'. 'Reogenesis' meanwhile closes things in the most epic fashion as ever seen from this band, imagine the
Pink Floyd-esque ending to 'A Darker Place' brought to new heights of grace for an idea of the magnitude contained herein.
I could harp on ad nauseum about the merits of each and every moment on this cd, but to do so is to attempt to unravel a work that needs to be experienced as a whole rather than in bits and pieces, and it is for this reason that
Isa tops its predecessor. It is a cohesive whole, and forges a mood of delicate malevolence that is maintained throughout, thus for this reason you simply must experience it as such. A late but truly worthy highlight of 2004.
9/10
Enslaved's Official Website
Tabu Records' Official Website
