Over the weekend, I managed to catch Enslaved in Charlotte. Several things caught my attention about the show.
1. It drew something on the order of 60-75 people. I've seen Skeleton Witch play (in a city less than 1/10 the size of Charlotte) to twice that many. For all that new Enslaved is supposed to be a band with a big draw in the metal scene, that clearly isn't the case on the ground.
2. Despite the supposed popularity of their later albums, the crowd reaction was fairly indifferent through most of the set (drawn almost entirely from Isa and RUUN). In contrast, the pops for "Fenris" and "Allfadr Odhinn" (the encore) were vastly out of proportion with the modest size of the crowd. And, frankly, the band seemed more into these songs than their newer material.
Which begs the question: why are they wasting time on dog shit like "Path to Vanir" (both in their live sets and in the studio)? They'd sell better and enjoy themselves more playing real music, so why aren't they?
1. It drew something on the order of 60-75 people. I've seen Skeleton Witch play (in a city less than 1/10 the size of Charlotte) to twice that many. For all that new Enslaved is supposed to be a band with a big draw in the metal scene, that clearly isn't the case on the ground.
2. Despite the supposed popularity of their later albums, the crowd reaction was fairly indifferent through most of the set (drawn almost entirely from Isa and RUUN). In contrast, the pops for "Fenris" and "Allfadr Odhinn" (the encore) were vastly out of proportion with the modest size of the crowd. And, frankly, the band seemed more into these songs than their newer material.
Which begs the question: why are they wasting time on dog shit like "Path to Vanir" (both in their live sets and in the studio)? They'd sell better and enjoy themselves more playing real music, so why aren't they?
