Izvođač: Enslaved
Izdavačka kuća: Nuclear Blast
Izlazak: 2012
Trajanje: 67:00
Ocjena: 4/5
Enslaved slove kao bend s jakim smislom za nadilaženje ortodoksnog black metala. U njihovu »tipičnom« metal razdoblju albumi sastava lako su se mogli strpati u jedan od mnogih podžanrova koje publika tako rado koristi za organiziranje i prepoznavanje specifičnih zvukova metala. No kroz posljednje albume Norvežani su se izrazito razvili. Ali u što točno?
Opći je konsenzus, iako uvijek ima mjesta za podijeljena mišljenja, da se Enslaved danas klasificira kao progresivni black metal, koji se stilski razlikuje od »klasičnog« black metala time što se hvata u koštac s nekonvencionalnijim glazbenim oblicima. Below the Lights, RUUN i Axioma Ethica Odini imaju nešto mekše, gotovo već progresivnorockovske utjecaje, a zasigurno i neuobičajene ritmičke i melodične elemente, koje bi te iznenadilo čuti na albumima stare škole poput Darkthrone, Bathory i Immortal. Ukratko, diskografija Enslaved prožeta je progresivnijim stilom black metala; to vrijedi za otprilike polovicu njihova opusa. Njihov je stil postao vrlo dosljedan, a istodobno vrlo različit od neke black metal norme. I RIITIIR se u tome ni po čemu ne razlikuje. Ali – je li riječ o pravoj evoluciji, o pravom napretku? Ili je to još jedan isti poznati stil koji bend u svojoj udobnosti svira već posljednjih pet albuma?
RIITIIR doduše i dalje ostaje u smjernicama progresivnog black metala. Ni inače nema puno sličnosti između njega i bendovih prethodnih EP-ja Thorn i The Sleeping Gods ili njihova LP-ja Axioma Ethica Odini. RIITIIR teži onome čemu teži većina kvalitetnih glazbenika – zvučati kao tipičan Enslaved album, a istodobno imati nešto novo, nešto jedinstveno samo za taj album. No to albumu RIITIIR uspijeva samo do određene mjere.
Neću se upuštati u detalje svake skladbe na albumu niti pokušavati opisati svaku pojedinu sekciju, ali ću naravno navesti primjere. Prva skladba “Thoughts Like Hammers” vjerojatno je moja najmanje draga skladba albuma. Njezin je intro prilično zavaravajući: čuje se jedan od bendovih najkaotičnijih i najkompleksnijih riffova, pun dah-oduzimajućih gitarskih harmonija koje su jedva shvatljive pri prvom slušanju. Ali ne smiješ prosuđivati ovu skladbu (ili album) samo po tom riffu, jer sve nakon njega pada natrag u tipično Enslaved zvučje. Cjelokupni stil i raspoloženje skladbe vrlo su obećavajući, no sama izvedba nekako šepa. Nijedan od riffova koji slijede me nije oduševio, pojavljuju se dijelovi koji su ili predugi ili jednostavno fileri. Srećom, od tu album ide samo nabolje.
Sljedeće tri skladbe potpuno zasjene uvodnu skladbu. U sebi samo osjetim one trenutke opijenosti nekakvim spiritualnim dodirom s glazbom, koji je bend bio sposoban stvoriti s nekoliko prethodnih albuma. Fascinantni stilovi riffova, čak i neki koji ne podsjećaju ni na kakve prethodne, već korištene bendove, počinju dominirati u ove tri skladbe, a istodobno napokon dolazi do izražaja uvijek fantastičan (i odlično producirani) vokal K. Grutlea. Čak se i njegov clean vokal znatno poboljšao i sazrio od Axiome. Izrazito karakterističan refren »Roots of the Mountain« sadrži nekoliko dijelova gdje njegov semi-falsetto (kako ja to zovem) odluta izvan pravog spektra, dakle promaši ono što bi mogla biti nekakva tehnička greška… ali meni se sviđa. Jako mi se sviđa. Koji god ti se eufemizam više sviđa da bi se to opisalo – tekstura odnosno boja njegova glasa, ili jednostavno nekakva emotivna strast – nekako mu uspijeva. Zajedno s tehničkom i emotivnom sposobnošću njegova glasa pretvara nešto što bi se inače smatralo greškom u nešto izrazito zanimljivo.
Treba napomenuti da je RIITIIR najduži Enslaved album do sada – traje čak 67 minuta. Zapravo je to bendov jedini album koji prelazi sat vremena. I iako više volim duže nego kraće albume, RIITIIR je ponekad poprilično predug. Posebno bi središnji dijelovi skladbi »Thoughts Like Hammers«, »Matenal« i »Storm of Memories« trebali biti skraćeni. Kad god mi se nešto čini predugim, sigurno je zato što zvuči ili jednostavno suvišno ili glazbeno nezanimljivo. Doduše, to nije veliki minus albumu, jer ponavljanje nije nužno loše, ali to ne mijenja činjenicu da su najmanje uživancijski dijelovi RIITIIR-a upravo oni s najviše ponavljanja. Ipak je »Forsaken« vjerojatno najbolja skladba albuma i jedna od najboljih Enslaved skladbi uopće, iako, kao i cijeli album, pati od dijelova koji su jednostavno suvišni – što možda i nije iznenađujuće, jer je sa svojih 11 minuta jedna od bendovih najdužih skladbi uopće.
Lirski me bend nikad nije impresionirao. Uvijek mi je bilo čudno koliko su im tekstovi klišejski, kad je njihova glazba tako paradoksalno suprotna temama o kojima pjevaju. RIITIIR na tom području predstavlja blago poboljšanje. I dalje ih se može opisati kao žilave, nasilne i općenito mračne, no barem nekim stihovima pokreću misaoni proces kakav prije nisu. Neki su čak nešto manje mračni i time prikladniji njihovoj uporabi prog rock elemenata. Upravo zato preporučujem da se tekstovima RIITIIR-a posvetiš više nego bilo kojem od prethodnih albuma.
RIITIIR je tako doduše progresivna glazba, ali istodobno ne predstavlja potpuni napredak samog benda. Već godinama bend u svoju glazbu uključuje lakše elemente prog rocka. Nasuprot tome, Sleeping Gods EP uključuje elektronske ambijentalne zvukove, nešto za što sam se istinski nadao da će ga bend još istražiti, no jedini znakovi takva zvuka pojavljuju se u skladbi »Forsaken«. Naravno, nisam očekivao da će Enslaved sad početi s nekakvim ambijentalnim ugođajem, ali takav element zasigurno puno pridonosi njihovu eksperimentiranju, pa se sam iskreno nadam da će bend nastaviti u smjeru fuzije prog metala i ambijentala, kako to recimo rade Agalloch i Negura Bunget.
Tijekom slušanja sam se više puta razočarao koliko je ugođaj RIITIIR-a sličan prethodnim Enslaved izdanjima, jer to zasigurno nije bilo ono što sam očekivao. Doduše, mogao bih reći da dok god je glazba odlična i ujedno »ugodna« za uho, bendu nije potrebna drastična promjena u stvaralaštvu, što je potpuno točno. RIITIIR je stoga vrlo solidan album i iako ne spada među moje najdraže albume benda, zasigurno je jedno od najboljih metal izdanja ove godine. Neke skladbe nude istinsku intrigantnost i napredak koji se mogu otkriti tek višekratnim slušanjem. Upravo osjećam da se približava vrijeme za novu, konkretnu Enslaved evoluciju i da su momenti kaotičnosti i ambijentalnosti na The Sleeping Gods i RIITIIR smjer koji će predstavljati novi korak u napredovanju progresivnog metala.
Pripremio, preveo i uredio: Tine Kolenik
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Enslaved is a band noteworthy for their sense of defying black metal orthodoxies. In typical metal fashion, their albums were easily categorizeable in one of the many sub genres that people use to organize and identify the specific sounds of metal. Enslaved was once known as Viking Metal and regular Black Metal. But over the past dozen albums, these Norwegians have evolved. But into what, exactly?
The general consensus, though there is always room for argument, is that Enslaved is now classified as “Progressive Black Metal”, a style of music that differentiates from the expected conventions of, comparatively speaking, “regular” Black Metal. Below the Lights, RUUN, and more recently Axioma Ethica Odini are known for bringing lighter, perhaps Prog Rock sounding influences, and more uncommon rhythmic and melodic elements one would be very surprised to hear in old school Darkthrone, Bathory or Immortal. To put this briefly, Enslaved’s discography has been very familiar with the style of a more progressive style of Black Metal, for approximately half of their discography. Their style has remained consistent and at the same time different from the norm of Black Metal…and RIITIIR is no different. But is it an evolution; a true progression? Or is it the same familiar style the band has played safe with for the past 5 or so albums?
RIITIIR is definitely more identifiable with progressive black metal than regular, or orthodox black metal. It doesn’t even sound all that much like their two previous EPs, Thorn and The Sleeping Gods, or the previous LP, Axioma Ethica Odini. But like what so many good musicians strive to do, it sounds like the essence of Enslaved while remaining somewhat new, somewhat unique, but only up to a point.
I won’t go into great detail for every track, attempting to describe the intricacies of every single section, though I will provide some examples. The opening track, “Thoughts Like Hammers”, is probably my least favorite from the album. Its intro is quite misleading: one of the band’s more chaotic and complex riffs, it provides a rush of overwhelming guitar harmonies that are difficult to understand on a single listen. But one should not judge the remainder of the track (or the album) based off this riff. Everything after that descends into typical territory for the band. The style and overall mood of the song seems promising but the execution itself feels lacking. None of the riffs totally “wow’d” me at all, some parts seemed to have gone on for a little too long as if they were filler. But thankfully it gets better after this.
The next 3 tracks seemed to completely overshadow the album’s opener. The uplifting moments of awe and that sense of a soulful connection the band has been known to make on previous records begin to become much more apparent with the following songs. Intriguing styles of riffs, some of which are even new to the band, start to dominate the core of these songs, in addition to the greatly performed and produced vocals that K. Grutle is known for. Even his clean singing has improved and matured noticeably since Axioma. The easily identifiable chorus of Roots of the Mountain has some parts in which his semi-falsetto (as I like to refer to it) sounds out of tune periodically. And yet despite something which would be deemed a technical performance flaw…I like it. I like it quite a bit. Whichever euphemism you prefer to describe it as, the textural or timbre quality of his voice, or the passion/emotion he pulls off, or a combination of both the technical and emotive skill and attributes of his singing, he takes advantage of what is generally perceived as a mistake and intuitively makes it interesting.
It should be noted that RIITIIR is Enslaved’s longest release so far, running at 67 minutes. It is actually their only album (sans bonus tracks or anything of the like) to exceed an hour. And surprising to myself, I find that sometimes this album runs a little bit too long. Particularly the middle sections of Thoughts Like Hammers, Matenal and Storm of Memories seem like they could have been cut short. Whenever I find something goes on for too long, obviously it is because it is either redundant or uninteresting sounding. I’d be fine with the consecutive 8-9 min song lengths if the band was more efficient with the time they provided us on this record. It’s not a major flaw, since the overly repetitive riffs aren’t actually awful, but the most repetitive sections on RIITIIR seem to be the least enjoyable moments of the record, with probably the exception of the chorus of Roots of The Mountain. Forsaken is perhaps the best track on the record and is maybe one of the best songs the band has ever put out, despite also suffering a bit at the hands of redundancy, which is not completely surprising. It is one of their longest songs ever, at 11 minutes.
Lyrically, I have never been impressed with Enslaved. I have always found it odd how cliché their lyrics are despite their music defying the very imagery and themes that they sing of so often. RIITIIR actually seems to be a bit of an improvement in this regard. It can still mostly be described as bleak, violent and just overall and simply dark. But certain lyrical passages seem to be a bit more thought-provoking and lighter in mood, which is a welcome change. Even some of their older albums had the very few phrases that really sparked something in me, so I do recommend paying attention to RIITIIR’s lyrics much more than any of their other albums.
RIITIIR is progressive music (abiding by the typical definition of the word in this context), but contrarily it is not a complete progression for the band themselves. For years the band has been doing the lighter/mellow metal feel with a combination of what could be called prog rock. The Sleeping Gods very interestingly introduced almost electronic-sounding ambient into their sound, something I really hoped would eventually be continued by the band. The only sign of this style of sound on RIITIIR exists on Forsaken. I did not expect Enslaved to incorporate major ambient elements on this album but it’s something they seem to be persisting with experimenting, and I personally hope they discover a new kind of combination for this prog metal + ambient mix, something bands like Agalloch and Negura Bunget are known to do to.
At times I am admittedly disappointed with how familiar the vibe of RIITIIR is to the previous releases and that it wasn’t as daring as I’d expected. One could say that as long as the music is great and enjoyable, they don’t need to change up their song drastically, and this is true. RIITIIR is a very, very solid album and though it is not my favorite album by them, not even in my top 3, it’s one of the better metal releases of the year and shows that this band has a high level of consistency when it comes to quality music that is definitely worthy of relistening. Some songs offer moments of pure intricacy that inevitably leave more to discover with repeated plays. I simply feel that Enslaved’s time of a new evolution is nearing, and perhaps The Sleeping Gods and RIITIIR’s moments of complex chaos and moody ambience are indeed foreshadowing the next progression of progressive metal.
Postava
Grutle Kjellson – bas gitara, vokal, sintisajzer
Ivar Bjørnson – gitare, sintisajzer
Arve Isdal – gitara
Herbrand Larsen – klavijature, sintisajzer, orgulje, vokal
Cato Bekkevold – bubnjevi, udaraljke
Popis skladbi
1. Thoughts Like Hammers
2. Death In The Eyes Of Dawn
3. Veilburner
4. Roots Of The Mountain
5. Riitiir
6. Materal
7. Storm Of Memories
8. Forsaken
