Should I go see Enslaved in a couple of weeks?

it's well written. it doesnt bother me. i just dont understand why some of you want "mainstream respect" or recognition for metal. let it stay in the underground and thrive, and let the mainstream stay ignorant and believe the heavy metal cliches.

face it, heavy metal to the man on the street is Korn.
 
it's well written. it doesnt bother me. i just dont understand why some of you want "mainstream respect" or recognition for metal. let it stay in the underground and thrive, and let the mainstream stay ignorant and believe the heavy metal cliches.
Couldn't agree more. We saw what happened to Metal when it became popular in the 80s; we went from Maiden and Priest to Firehouse and Jackyl. Leave well enough alone.

Zod
 
it's well written. it doesnt bother me. i just dont understand why some of you want "mainstream respect" or recognition for metal. let it stay in the underground and thrive, and let the mainstream stay ignorant and believe the heavy metal cliches.

face it, heavy metal to the man on the street is Korn.

No, I think you've misunderstood -- that article on Enslaved could have been a complete disaster. The entire focus could have been on church burnings etc. I think it's perfectly acceptable to recognize that the journalist took some time out to understand where the band has arrived today, and was therefore worthy of being recognized for an excellent article (in the NY times might I add).

That letter wasn't written to the editor of the NY times. I was attempting to write a personal note to the journalist (but didn't have a direct e-mail address) so went for some group address. Who knows if she'll ever even see it.

(By the way, that article was a lot better than 90% of the drivel you would see in a "metal 'zine"). Again, very commendable. Credit is due no matter where it's derived.
 
the said article now made Blabbermouth news ... hence now legitemized for the rest of the metal world
 
I've come up with a selfish rationalization to explain my admiration for the article that avoids violating the tr00 underground ideals.

Last time I saw Enslaved, I wrote that I would really like to see them get on a tour with a band like Isis. I think that would make a lot more sense (and be much more enjoyable for me personally) than continuing to pair up with cartoonish metal bands like Dark Funeral. The bill for this tour new might be slightly less rooted in the past, but it's still well within the self-contained "metal" world.

The reason I'd like such a pairing is because it might lead to more cross-pollination between genres. With Enslaved being such an exploratory band, I think that if given the right exposure to the right people, they could be in influence on bands that come from outside of the historical metal pedigree. And that could lead to styles of music that I've never heard before, which is basically what I'm always hoping to discover. But if they continue to position themselves purely as a "metal" band, no one will notice.

So if an article in the New York Times brings more "credibility" and popularity to a band like Enslaved, to a point where they become more influential to other artists, then I'm all for it. The key difference in this rationalization is that I don't want them to become more popular for their own sake, or to justify my admiration of them; instead, I want them to become more popular so that I can listen to better music in the future.

Neil
 
Well said Neil; and for the most part I agree except that I'll expand upon it and say that I do have a soft spot for some of those "more cartoonish" style bands you mention (though not Dark Funeral per se). If Enslaved can lead me to better music of *any* kind I'm all for it.

But yeah, for the most part I'd prefer that better music to come from a truly relevant band like Isis (a band which, ironically, still hasn't clicked with me). The "cross pollination" effect was also spot on and I couldn't agree more there.

Jason
 
well, I suppose that's one way of looking at it -- although I just cannot imagine what new musical experimentations are yet to be explored between the spectrum of silence and white noise. Haven't SunnO))) already been there done that? :loco:
 
Isa is my favorite Enslaved album but I do hope next time they lay off the prog influence considerably. I'll be seeing them anyway theres no way in hell I'd miss them considering it's probably going to be a long time until they're back in the states seeing how this is the second time they've come this year.

To the guy who said they should "kick out that faggot Ice Dale", he's nothing compared to that fucking schmuck playing acoustic guitar on the last dvd. I hate that guy.
 
Enslaved / The Faceless / Arsis @ The Pearl Room

I approach the doors and the security guard points to another guy standing there and says “First, sign the petition”. Uh, no? And call me crazy, but maybe I’d like to know what the petition is about before I sign it. “It’s to stop animal cruelty”. Ok, thanks, but sorry, still no. Can I just go inside now? So that was pretty lame…it’s cool that the guy was there collecting signatures, but I’m pretty sure the venue’s security shouldn’t be telling you what to do.

I walked inside just in time to catch the last half song from The Agonist, which was probably enough.

Then came Arsis. Oh dear. During sound check, I couldn’t believe how loud and stupid the kick drum sound was. It’s like they took Fear Factory’s kick drum sample, and cranked up the gain by 10x. Completely ridiculous. The loudest clicking noise in the world. When they actually started playing, it was even worse, because then all the rest of the overplayed drums were added in too. I got madder and madder at the drummer as the set went on: how could he be so dumb to think that actually sounds good? It was rather disappointing, because I actually sort of like their complex-and-brutal yet melodic-and-grooving metal on their albums, but this was an unfortunate combination of bad and boring.

I’d never heard (or heard of) The Faceless before, so I didn’t know what to expect. Well, it was more fairly brutal, somewhat technical death metal played by a bunch of short-haired young’n’s from L.A. They had the somewhat-rare dedicated growler for a frontman, and even a hoodie-wearing keyboard player (who didn’t add much). Their sound was quite a bit more listenable than Arsis, and they played their instruments well, but that’s about all there was to recommend about them. Clearly there are guys in the band who can write plenty of clever riffs, but apparently they’re completely lacking anyone who knows how to construct those riffs into an actual song. It’s just random riff after random riff, which gets boring fast.

Phew, finally Enslaved came on to save the day. This was the third time I’ve seen them, and easily the best (not surprising, since it’s the first headling slot I’ve seen, and one of the other times was a 4-song set at the Milwaukee Metalfest). The setlist was pretty similar to their opening slot from last year, meaning lots of stuff from their last two albums. I can only imagine what a set would be like if they ever played anything from my two favorite albums (’Mardraum’ and ‘Vikingligr Veldi’). Still, it’s pretty great how they can go from the title track of their latest album to something from their first release (9 albums and 13 years apart) and have both songs kick equal amounts of ass. Not a lot of bands who can do that. And it was great to hear the old stuff updated to the modern production values. It also helped that this time I was right up front with a lot of other obviously-dedicated Enslaved fans, so that made it a headbanging good time.

In their headlining slot, they do the same setup as Dimmu Borgir, with drums and keyboards at the left and right positions at the rear of the stage. Surprisingly, they didn’t have the projector screens they used when opening for Dark Funeral, but that meant the guys in the band were more of a focus, and they do a good job of interacting with the crowd without being overly cheesy. It was nice that they *didn’t* dedicate a song to Decapitated, which apparently they’d done at other shows; makes it a bit more meaningful if it’s not just a standard note on the setlist. Instead, they dedicated one to their “old friends in the Chicago band Macabre”. Their sound was very good, just enough of that raw blackness mixed in with their epic and psychadelic bits. Has their ever been a more mournful solo played over more brutal music than the one closing out “As Fire Swept Clean the Earth”? Brilliant.

So yeah, I still say Enslaved needs to associate more with bands like Isis, but I guess on this tour, the contrast with the opening bands just makes them seem that much better.

Setlist (complete, mostly in order):
Path to Vanir
Fusion of Sense and Earth
Bounded By Allegiance
Gylfaginning
Violet Dawning
As Fire Swept Clean the Earth
Isa
Return to Yggdrasill
Ruun

Allfadr Odin
Slaget I Skogen Bortenfor
 
It's a shame I couldn't go but I was really hoping for their new material to win me over in a live setting. I was listening to Isa and Ruun non-stop in hope of appreciating it more when seeing the show, but as it stands, I've gone back to ignoring those two albums again.
 
I caught the show last night. Enslaved was real good. The opening bands were not. Arsis was OK. I didn't care for The Faceless or The Agonist. Unfortunately I also got there early enough to see one of the local openers. Enslaved's set seemed a little short though. They pretty much played the setlist Neil posted.