BLODHEMN

I received a broken box

Though I prefer Enslaved's later, more progressive albums, their earlier, more black metal albums are worth listening to as well. Blodhemn released in 1998 is in my opinion the pinacle of their black metal years, after which they became increasingly more progressive musically and started singing in English. Blodhemn is still sung in Norwegian and Icelandic and for my opinion is their most furious and violent album. There is no subtlety here as found on their previous album Eld which incorporated more acoustic and folk elements into the music. Blodhemn is pure black metal fury repleat with blast beats courtesy of Dirge Rep, and Grutle Kjellson's viscious growl. The only respite from the constant onslaught is the last song Suttungs Mjod which is much slower and melodic than the other songs and in which Grutle sings cleanly. The rest is pure black metal aggression in the same ballpark as Gorgoroth and earlier Dark Funeral or Enslaved's Frost album despite the occasional clean vocals and fleeting thrash metal influence heard on a couple of the songs.Boldhemn is one of the "must have" recordings in Enslaved's discography along with their first album Vikingligr Veldi, Mardraum, Below The Lights, Ruun, Axioma Ethica Odini and their latest album Riitiir. Despite the stylistic shift from black metal to progressive viking metal, they've never put out a bad album. Oh hell just get them all.

another outstanding album from these viking kings of Nordic metal. Enslaved is one of the rare bands that have managed to stay solid in their approach to bombastic, brutal, and brillaintly blackened music.the cosmic strains of "Audhumla. Birth of the Worlds" serves as the intro and it's just a matter of moments until the fury of the second song "I Lenker Til Ragnarok" is unleashed. the first thing i noticed is how the production seems to be a bit cleaned up compared to the Eld album. i like the somewhat misty, murky feel of that record, but Blodhemn's more trebly approach fits the faster tempo and violent nature of these songs. the guitars especially sound meaner and the drumming is more upfront in the mix, giving it all a good "in the midst of bloody battle" feeling. the vocals have always been great with Enslaved, but here they have grown even better. everything from hauntingly clean sung passages, to deathly raspy growls and even a few Slayer-inspired high pitched screams.Blodhemn seems to be a far more violent ordeal than Enslaved's last 2 proper albums. but their fury is never outblown to the point where it loses impact or runs out of steam. each song stands on it own with a brutal confidence and is overflowing with great songwriting and a creative approach; which makes this album more and more fascinating with each listen. Blodhemn, along with Eld and Mardraum -Beyond The Within- are essential purchases for any Enslaved fan.

There's an extraordinary depth to the violence, passion, and beauty on Enslaved's new CD Blodhemn. No current metal band rivals their musical grandeur and unconventionality. Though they project an image of ancient Viking warriors, Enslaved create some of the most intense and innovative metal with Blodhemn, another amazing album in the brutal yet complex tradition. They?ve been part of the Norwegian extreme metal scene since 1992, and musically share similarities with some of their Nordic black metal brethren. It was obvious that there was something incomparable about this trio (now a quartet with the addition of second guitarist R. Kronheim). As with their last two albums Frost and Eld, Enslaved continue to chart new musical territory with Blodhemn (blood vendetta in Norwegian) with nine opulent metal hymns. Enslaved have trimmed down their usual ten-minute epics to a more concise 40-minute total, most songs being under five minutes. Blodhemn's ferocious musical barrages are tempered by moments of beauty as on the intro song "Sudbumla: Birth of the Worlds," and the slow and melodic finale, "Suttungs Mjog," where bassist/singer Grutle Kjellson uses his melodic baritone to add some passionate vocals (when he's not using his warrior screech). Many claim to be true Viking metal bands, like Amon Amarth and Einherjer, but Enslaved sing in an authentic Viking tongue, wear Viking outfits, and play like possessed Norse warriors. Easily one of my favorite metal albums this year.

This album gets a 4 instead of a 3 because it's amazing opener. Now this isn't a landmark album, an album that everyone should own, but it's a fun listen and I recommend to anyone looking into the Viking genre. This album mostly sounds like some raunchier Immortal stuff with some cool operatic singing here and there. Pretty good stuff. I have to agree with a previous reviewer about how this album sounds somewhat tinny, although Peter Tagtgren produced it (it [a bummer] that Peter is shutting down Abyss studios and is going to stop producing). I don't who does what in the band, so I'm just gonna guess.The Band:Dirge Rep, bass and vocals- this guy has some pretty low bass tones in there. Not only is he a good bass player, his screeching vocals go right along with the music. His lyrics are pretty cool too.Roy, guitars- While Roy's riffs might be intricate, there not all that catchy. That's why this album suffers. But his leads make up for it. They're very beautiful and somehow fit the sometime uninspired guitar riffs. Roy is still a good guitarist though.Ivar, guitars- Ivar's description is just about the same as Roy's, since I don't know who is the lead guitarist and who's the rhythm, and who writes the songs.Grutle, drums- While Grutle is a very fast and talented drummer, you don't notice him that much. What I mean by that is that he doesn't make you go "whoa, how'd he do that." He doesn't seem to use a lot of rolls either, but he's pretty cymbal heavy, which I see as a positive attribute.Overall, this release isn't really worth [the money](I got mine used). But still, Enslaved is a classic band and you should at least give the few first songs a listen.