Band:	Enslaved
Album:	Utgard
Release date:	October 2020

01. Fires In The Dark
02. Jettegryta
03. Sequence
04. Homebound
05. Útgarđr
06. Urjotun
07. Flight Of Thought And Memory
08. Storms Of Utgard
09. Distant Seasons


Given how explorative their career had been from their beginning up until 2010's iconic Axioma Ethica Odini, Enslaved's last few albums were surprisingly similar stylistically. Utgard is here to change that.

Now, that first sentence isn't meant as a criticism in any way; as far as I'm concerned, Enslaved are the best thing to ever come from black metal, and all four of their 2010s records made my end-of-decade list. However, anyone who's checked out the singles from the album, particularly "Jettegryta" and "Urjotun", will have noticed a shift from the lengthy prog sounds of E and In Times, and the rest of the album follows suit, with only a single song from those two records combined running shorter than the longest song on Utgard, which is the band's shortest full-length since 1998's Blodhemn. Additionally, whilst the synth-rock sounds of "Urjotun" are confined to that track, the sense of adventure that led to the inclusion of those sounds can be found in many of the album's songs.

The first thing I want to touch on is the vocals; the people that have heard "Jettegryta" already will know that Grutle Kjellson, for much of the band's recent career confined to only doing harsh black metal shrieks, takes on lead clean vocal duties in the song's chorus, and that's not the only track for which this is the case. The clean singing responsibilities are far more evenly shared by Kjellson and keyboardist Håkon Vinje this time around, and on the subject of Vinje, either he's taken a really different approach or there's a third voice contributing at times this time around, because there are plenty of non-Grutle cleans here that are far more forceful than the gloomy, soft voice Vinje predominantly employed on E (just listen to first single "Homebound" for some examples). Add in some group Viking chants (on display right from the off on "Fires In The Dark"), and there's an exciting array of vocal approaches on display here.

"Fires In The Dark" starts as just mentioned with Viking chants, but then features a steady, ominous march for an extended period before we get our first Grutle cleans. The rest of this song is a moody, mid-tempo track drenched in atmosphere, and with the keyboards nicely prominent in the mix. I've sometimes found the keyboards to be rather restricted on past albums as to when they were allowed to come through clearly in the mix, but they feel more consistently audible on Utgard, and they generally work to the songs' favour. Whilst not quite as epic as "Storm Son" or "Thurisaz Dreaming" from albums past, "Fires In The Dark" is a really strong intro to Utgard, but better is yet to come. The first real bursts of anger on the black metal and blast beat front come on the next track, "Jettegryta", a song that I already liked when the video dropped but have come to love more as part of full album plays; the Grutle clean chorus sounds nice and evil, and the black metal riff that immediately follows it kicks all kinds of ass. Perhaps my favourite overall song on Utgard, however, is fellow single "Homebound", with its rousing, euphoric chorus, epic solos and aforementioned impassioned clean vocals in the bridge.

I mentioned before that the synth-rock sounds of "Urjotun" were a one-off, but the band's sense of experimentation is represented in other ways on other tracks. Probably the most initially shocking is the use of what is most likely just keyboard sounds, but which sound to me rather a lot like steel drums and/or ringing bells in the closing minutes of "Sequence", but I have to say they work perfectly in adding a majestic feel to what is an already stunning instrumental stretch leading to the end of the song. These moments during "Urjotun" and "Sequence" are probably the biggest wildcards here, but there's odd novelties scattered elsewhere on the album; perhaps the other standout track in terms of surprises is closer "Distant Seasons", which may be the most consistently soft song I can remember the band doing (I'm not sure they've done a full song without harsh vocals before), but which serves as a great conclusion to the record. Nevertheless, any experimentation is allowed to flourish by Enslaved doing the things they're known for to their usual exceptionally high standard; the black metal riffs rip, the solos shred and the transitions feel seamless, with "Flight Of Thought And Memory" serving as a fine example for all of these.

The album's not perfect, with the odd chorus ("Flight Of Thought And Memory") or solo ("Sequence") not fully working for me; however, any moments such as these are few and feel insignificant compared to all the great things going on here. This feels like the clearest shift in approach the band has taken since Axioma Ethica Odini, if not earlier, so there's the possibility that Utgard may not please everyone; however, I would be surprised if it ends up being a divisive record, as it's by no means a grand departure, and the quality really shines through to me. The promo for Utgard came to me during a bit of a low point, and listening to it on repeat this Sunday just gone pretty much single-handedly salvaged my mood, which may partially explain why I feel so positively towards it, but as far as I'm concerned, this is another fantastic record from a band that is pretty much synonymous with consistency, and further extends what must now surely be the longest active hot streak in all of metal.