Enslaved - In Times review
| Band: | Enslaved |
| Album: | In Times |
| Style: | Progressive black metal |
| Release date: | March 06, 2015 |
| A review by: | Auntie Sahar |
01. Thurisaz Dreaming
02. Building With Fire
03. One Thousand Years Of Rain
04. Nauthir Bleeding
05. In Times
06. Daylight
Let no one ever have to question the consistency of the Norsemen in Enslaved. From the icy black metal of their debut, right down to the more complex nature of their recent material, the band have garnered a well deserved reputation as mature and innovative songwriters. 2015's In Times is a slightly more accessible mark in their discography, one that, while good, also feels as though it could have gone a little bit deeper.
In Times retains most of the sounds Enslaved have established for themselves over their past four albums or so. A mid-paced black metal core sees enhancement by a number of melodic and progressive underpinnings, as usual helping the music to span a wide range of moods and deliveries, from the aggressive approach of "Thurisaz Dreaming," to the dreamy mood and incredible guitar solo on "Daylight." As could be expected, for many listeners this is probably going to be the type of album where you don't entirely "get it" on the first listen, and where you discover something you didn't before with each subsequent playthrough. This technique of sophisticated layering is something Enslaved have been proving themselves as adept with for some time now, and In Times is certainly no exception.
However, despite its complexity, In Times also comes across as a lot more simplistic than some of Enslaved's previous material. Although it still holds onto a lot of interesting rhythms and compositional approaches, there seems to have been a shift in how Enslaved take to their progressive personality. "Building With Fire" seems more like a bizarre form of extreme rock than anything else, and the viking chants on "One Thousand Years Of Rain" seem a lot more straightforward than what we've become accustomed to with the band. Although they certainly have many memorable songs, "catchy" has never really been a word I've associated with Enslaved, and the slight increase in that element on In Times is enough to noticeably change the dynamic of the music. There's definitely been a change in atmosphere here: the band's proggy undertone is a little less dark and mysterious, and more direct and stripped down.
In the future, when Enslaved have called it quits and left their fans to muse upon their discography, I still think that Isa and Axioma Ethica Odini are going to be regarded as the crown jewels of their progressive era. But don't let that fool you: In Times is still, on the whole, a very engaging, well rounded release; it merely shifts things around a bit. And if anything, that's only testament to the fact that we're dealing with musicians bent on making each album a unique creation unto itself, and giving us something different with each encounter.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written by Auntie Sahar | 03.03.2015
Comments
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Comments: 44
Visited by: 562 users
| MetalDoomMaster Posts: 566 |
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| tea[m]ster Au Pays Natal Contributor Posts: 5266  |
Best review you have ever written. Well done - and thanks.
---- rekt
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989  |
Written by MetalDoomMaster on 03.03.2015 at 06:06 I had got it earlier on advance listen for review, pretty much just a coincidence that it happened to stream in full today  There are plenty of Enslaved songs that I can remember easily because of riffs and melodies that are easy to get stuck in your head, what I guess I mean is that here it almost feels as if they deliberately set out to do that. Previously things felt a little more subtle, as if they were writing great music that just coincidentally happened to have a great hook to it as well. The "catchy" element was a little less in your face. It's a bit hard to describe, because it's not as if it's an extreme contrast, but for me it was enough to notice.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by tea[m]ster on 03.03.2015 at 06:14 Thanks man, I've got 120 under my belt, so that's a pretty big compliment! 
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| MetalDoomMaster Posts: 566 |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 03.03.2015 at 06:15 I was gonna say, that'd be a pretty quick turnaround. Ah, I get what you're saying, but I don't think writing music to be catchy is necessarily a bad thing, and I think they lost most of their dark atmosphere with Axioma, so this album went in a pretty predictable direction. I'm not saying that you're saying the catchiness a bad thing (seems like you're not). Ok I don't know where I'm going with this so I'll shut up now haha. Thanks for the review, good read.
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by MetalDoomMaster on 03.03.2015 at 06:29 Not that it's a bad thing, just that it feels a bit strange. I hope I'm not coming off as one of those "the band changed their sound and I don't like it" types, because it is for the most part a pretty great album, I think there's just something about that aspect of the songwriting though that didn't make it click with me as hard as AEO and RIITIIR did.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| MetalDoomMaster Posts: 566 |
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| Joe Zombie Posts: 540  |
I really like this album. Probably because its catchy and more accessible I'll admit. I was never a big fan of Enslaved to begin with; the last record of theirs I cared for was Vertebrae. To be fair I haven't given their music as a whole the attention it probably requires. Regardless, I can't wait to pick this one up and perhaps give RIITIIR a proper listen.
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| Hex_Omega Gem Seeker Posts: 1178 |
This is their worst album since Vertebrae, which means it is still very good  It sounds like a weaker version of RIITIIR to me.
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| Necrodamus Posts: 435  |
Just listened to the album stream via YouTube, and I happen to agree with much of your review. A shame, since I was thinking this would easily top RIITIIR. Likewise, AEO is probably their modern opus and will remain as such, so I didn't think this would usurp that by any means. I'll be giving this a good many more listens to see where it stacks up with their others.
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| corrupt With a lowercase c Admin Posts: 3537  |
Nice review. It's a pretty accurate expression of my own first impression. The album is more reminiscent of Axioma than any other Enslaved album and yet tops it up with a few quite unique elements within their universe. It stands to prove the every-second-album rule that Enslaved have established for themselves it appears. Ruun, Axioma, and now In Times. I'm curious as to how it'll feel in half a year. Riitiir never quite sat with me and I can already appreciate this a little more. But with every listen it seems more and more like Axioma will tower over its successors for a while longer.
---- 
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62015  |
I didn't know you like Enslaved
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| MetalDoomMaster Posts: 566 |
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62015 |
Written by MetalDoomMaster on 03.03.2015 at 14:34 I as referring to reviewer
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die" I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| MetalDoomMaster Posts: 566 |
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by corrupt on 03.03.2015 at 12:27 You're not the only one I've seen mention that, like how they tend to make their really standout albums with every other release?
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by Bad English on 03.03.2015 at 13:44 Where were you when I did this?
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15287  |
Great review, though I'm with Corrupt. Kinda. I prefer this one to Riitiir. Maybe that one felt a tad more let down-y coming immediately after AEO, but this one clicked more after a couple listens. the viking chorus isn't entirely new (check the end of Monumension), and isn't too overdone, fortunately. it's a interesting touch towards the end of a song.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62015 |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 03.03.2015 at 15:32 I think I read it I read all reviews, but somehow I forgot it
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die" I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by BitterCOld on 03.03.2015 at 15:37 It's definitely a grower, as is most of their material. I wrote this review after the second listen, now I'm on my fourth and things are starting to fall a little more into place
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Alex F Posts: 3519  |
Really good review, though I would give it a higher rating and a bit more praise. I definitely prefer it to RIITIIR
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by Alex F on 03.03.2015 at 15:42 Ya know, that was really one of those albums that I spun like 4 or 5 times, put down, and then never listened to again. Not because I didn't like it, I just ended up not returning to it. Seems like I should now though to see how it compares to this one.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| flightoficarus Stamp Tramp Posts: 1116  |
Great review, very concise. I have been putting mine together, but you nearly hit all the same points right down to the "extreme rock" thoughts on "Building with Fire." I'll probably end up putting mine on MA to avoid redundancy. The only major difference is that I scored it a good point higher, but I don't think I'll have a sturdy score for this one until I have given it more listens throughout the year. Great job.
---- Daily underground metal recommendations at Metal Trenches. Watch metal content on the Metal Trenches YouTube Channel.
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| DahliaRock Posts: 153  |
Hmmm.. being a huge fan of the Axioma and that rare breed of people who enjoyed Vertebrae (to me, other Enslaved albums are like nordic men's beard while Vertebrae is a modern composition of plastic strings) I have two sides to the album: - it's in a way a summation album of all the ideas that have led here, like a stepping stone to a rather clearer meadow. it's better than RiitiiR in the sense that it doesn't try to evolve the sound but builds upon it. rIitir was a great album that fell short of sticking because the ideas were not mature enough to create a whole different vibe. this is one of the reasons I find Vertebrae refreshing! - being a summation, it creates the illusion that the songs are rather simpler than they are. that was the case for me with Gojira's L'enfant, and at times the bulkier sound causes boredom, like Meshuggah's Obzen. All feel like that final stepping stone before heading towards a different staircase. Now it's curious how Enslaved will handle the next step. It's possible that the new sound could be a flop like Koloss (I still like it, but the rawness of the sound messed up the rhythmic affair that Meshuggah established so far imho) of course this is only after listening twice to the stream, so we'll see how it holds up. A 8.2 so far for me!
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| corrupt With a lowercase c Admin Posts: 3537 |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 03.03.2015 at 15:31 Which is exactly what they have been doing since Below The Lights. Of course everyone has a different other album. But they seem to cater more to one of two groups with every second release.
----
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| Jaeryd Nihil's Maw Posts: 1062  |
I'm not going to listen to it until my physical copy comes in the mail (I end up doing most of my listening while at work, and can't stream things from my work computer), but I'm excited to give it a few spins. Good review.
---- 
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| Risto Wandering Midget Posts: 1115  |
Right now I doubt this will be any better than RIITIIR, unfortunately. I'd also like to mention Axioma Ethica Odini is my favorite Enslaved album, and RIITIIR is excellent at it's best.
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| HitokiriNate85 Posts: 56 |
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| Netzach Planewalker Posts: 1761  |
De Riitiir nil nisi bene, but this album feels a lot more focused in every aspect. It kind of loses momentum somewhere around the title track and never manages to quite regain it, but songs are enjoyable nonetheless. Standout track is "Building With Fire" because it's the only track with a couple boring parts. Everything else is top notch although they could have cut off a few minutes of the two last tracks. This one's on par with Vertebrae and Axioma which were both very good albums.
---- My "blackened synth metal" solo project: maladomini.bandcamp.com. Whenever I write something funny, weird, or pretentious... I learned English by playing Baldur's Gate, okay?
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