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Enslaved - Below The Lights

Progressive Black Metal
May 19, 2023
I'll admit, Monumension and especially Madraum don't get the attention they deserve as the bridges between Enslaved's viking era and their current prog one. But when the first mellotron notes of "As Fire Swept Clean the Earth" hit, it's pretty clear that it's here that Enslaved finally came into their own progressive black metal sound. The soloing gets more melodic, the structures more intricate, the soundscapes more expansive, but there's still a neckbreaking quality to the riffing and a harshness in the vocals that Enslaved continue to play with, even twenty years since the release of this one.