Enslaved: "Vertebrae" due in September

[S<issors]

They shouldn't change their name; they should just stop making albums. The last thing the world needs is more useless pieces of plastic from washed-up Norwegian bands who hit their peak well over a decade ago.

Because a change in style automatically equates to uselessness? I'd agree if they were pumping out garbage, but most of their proggy records are actually damn good, even if they don't appeal to some folks.

 

[KevenZ]

It's fucking fantastic you gaylords

gaylords.... lol that insult made me laugh.

the albums gets better with every listen for me! pretty good stuff actually...... I can't think of any band who sound like that.

 

[10293847]

I feel sorry for you if you can't understand the crux of what I said. Doomcifer provided reasoning also.

I guess I should refer to Doomcifer for all your reasonings? Thanks for the heads up.

 

[10293847]

Most bands that have been active for a long time, change over time. Call it maturation, growth, evolution, whatever you may. As a creative entity, you are always trying different things and explore new territory in order to avoid stagnation. What someone tends to prefer over the other, is, obviously, a matter of opinion/preference. If you dislike what they are doing now, then don't listen to it. Keep listening to their earlier works. At least they created something that you enjoyed in the first place.

More bands should play what they want with people's opinions being just a secondary factor, whether it be positive or negative. If it's positive, then it's just an added bonus.

Just my .02. Personally, I enjoy most of Enslaved's work and embrace their newer sound. Below The Lights is my personal favorite.

I agree 100% with you.

I have no problem with musicians changing direction. They can do what they'd like, of course. It is my opinion though, that if these musicians choose to play something completely different to what they did early in their career, that they create a new band.

It would be like Fenriz adding Neptune Towers to the Darkthrone discography. It wouldn't make any sense.

This was never an issue of whether one likes the music of Enslaved or not. This was about seperating identities. And that is my two cents.

 

[Jreg]

I'd rather leave it up to the artist to decide what defines his or her identities rather than systematically following one procedure. Everyone will have a different approach to that, which I find more interesting. Thomen Stauch left Blind Guardian and joined another band who sounds a hell of a lot like---Blind Guardian. Tom Warrior just started a new band that, he claims, will basically use a lot of the music he had planned for Celtic Frost. On the other side, Garm seems to feel that all the different genres he's dabbled in under the name Ulver are, somehow, connected enough not to need a name change. In some cases, those kind of decisions are probably money-driven as well though.

 

[S<issors]

It is my opinion though, that if these musicians choose to play something completely different to what they did early in their career, that they create a new band.

It would be like Fenriz adding Neptune Towers to the Darkthrone discography. It wouldn't make any sense.

Actually, it would be more like Darkthrone releasing a crust punk record called "F.O.A.D." in 2007.

I see what you're trying to say, but it doesn't make any sense. Authors don't change names when they write different kinds of books. Directors don't change names when they switch movie genres. Your argument is just straight-up weird: should a band also change their name whenever they lose or gain members? What about adding an instrument? Trying out a new vocal style?

As a man named V5 once said,

That isn't how art works. Stop being stupid.

 

[Demilich]

What kind of asshole wants every band they like to sound exactly the same forever? Wow, the GMD is always full of exciting information!

 

[Omni]

I'm pretty sure that almost every band changes their style over their careers. The fact that some bands do it to a greater degree than others doesn't really change anything.

 

[Cythraul]

Because a change in style automatically equates to uselessness?

I never even made that claim.

I'd agree if they were pumping out garbage, but most of their proggy records are actually damn good, even if they don't appeal to some folks.

No, they're not good.

 

[S<issors]

Meh, difference of opinion, I guess. Surprised you don't like Mounumension, though, that's a great record.

 

[Belligerent]

New Dawn is an amazing song off of Vertebrae. This is a great new direction for Enslaved.

 

[A1a23]

New Dawn is an amazing song off of Vertebrae. This is a great new direction for Enslaved.

Fuck yeah it is!! New Dawn is currently my favorite song off of the album next to Clouds.

 

[S<issors]

For all the superficial changes in style, this band hasn't had a new idea since Frost (or maybe Mardraum, Manowarish superfail though it was) - they just keep doing what they've always done (black metal with prog/psychedelic elements), but with each new iteration rendered in a more mainstream idiom than the last (i.e. they've gone from being influenced by Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and Voivod to Pink Floyd, Opeth and Tool - blech).

I see what you're saying, but since Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream were around before, and influenced in turn, Voivod, Opeth, Tool, and Kraftwerk (who were also around early enough to have an impact on Voivod...) it's sort of poorly stated. Not to mention that all most "experimental" bands do is lump together some disparate sounds; Enslaved are lacking in new ideas in the same way that DSO or BAN are. I'm not sure what you want of them- new genres of music?

I suppose I would agree that the process from M. to V. has primarily been one of integrating more prog rock and removing more black metal (which I guess inherently makes them "more mainstream"), but I don't understand why that's a problem if you like both styles. I think "Pink Floyd influenced black metal" is an awesome idea. Don't you "blech" at the greatest band of all time!

 

[S<issors]

Your argument depends upon the concept that a group's popularity is inversely proportional to its quality, which is precisely the mindset that has warped so many metalheads into pseudointellectual blowhards who are essentially identical to the "hipsters" and indie kids that they love to look down upon.

Bluntly put: Pink Floyd are very popular. They have sold record numbers of albums. They are also a more influential, much more interesting, much better band than Enslaved, Burzum, Darkthrone, Ildjarn, Ulver, Opeth, Tool, and every other group brought up in this thread.

Accessibility does not equate to quality, and becoming more accessible does not equate to intellectual surrender. I respect people who prefer Enslaved's older material because they prefer black metal to prog rock; I also understand a personal dislike of Enslaved's brand of prog. However, to suggest that someone's intelligence hinges on (or even has much bearing on) what kind of music they listen to is stunningly ignorant.

 

[S<issors]

That's some goofy logic right there. Our prisons are chiefly of young black men and our professors are mostly old white guys.

Also, at the point where you're arguing that Ildjarn or Darkthrone have anything on Floyd, you should probably reevaluate your position.

 

[S<issors]

Take the extraneous widdling out of the average Floyd song and you're left with three or four minutes of generic 70s rock.

The average Darkthrone song is built around much less, and Ildjarn occasionally has one NOTE on a track. Presumably if we added some more notes to Strength and Anger we could produce some generic seventies rock, right? Or we could stick with what's actually in the band's music. Which, in the case of Floyd, is not "extraneous widdling," it's atmosphere and wildly successful experimentation.

Complexity of content

DT and Ildjarn are many things, but "complex" is not one of them. They're fun bands (well, DT is, personally I find Ildjarn rather unstimulating, kvlt-cred aside) but their ideology and their approach to music is charming but simplistic.

 

[Hatebreeder]

Personally, I think Enslaved are one of the few bands who do not have a best album. All their material is equally excellent and unique in comparison to their previous works, the band are constantly growing and changing.

.

I didn't even know they were recording.

"Vetrarnótt" is the best black metal song ever written.

 

[tagradh]

Far too much pseudo intellectual bullshit in the past few pages.

 

[Hatebreeder]

Isn't that what the GMD is all about?

 

[S<issors]

Complexity in art is about content, not aesthetic. The artistic content of Darkthrone and Ildjarn is vastly more complex, despite the simplicity of some aspects of their aesthetics (although, in the case of Darkthrone, much of their work is far more structurally complex than Pink Floyd's verse/chorus/bridge/ridiculously extended solo template).

A template you'll see in their more radio-friendly material, sure, but not in the majority of their music. No need to preach to the choir about Darkthrone, either, I enjoy them.

What experimentation? Children's choirs and incredibly obvious sound effects? Extended solo breaks? Laser shows? None of this stuff was 'experimental' in the mid-70s, much less today. Compared to their contemporaries - King Crimson, Popol Vuh, Queen, hell, even Black Sabbath - their music was rigidly conventional. They weren't wildly innovative experimenters, they were The Who for slackers.

I'm thinking more of their earlier works and Animals, you're clearly referring to The Wall (and occasionally Dark Side). The Wall has an abundance of filler, and some of its tunes can be a bit annoying, but I think songs like Comfortably Numb make up for that and then some. IMO Floyd produced some great rock and roll, had excellent vocalists and overall musicianship, and also gave us plenty of cool psychedelic "noodling" for those of us that like that kind of thing; even if it isn't a huge departure, tossing in gospel singing and saxophone into a best-selling British rock record is pretty charming. Plus their albums had a degree of cohesiveness unusual in most mainstream rock. And then there's Animals, which just fucking rules.