Below The Lights
[The End Records]

Enslaved have always made high quality, thinking man's black metal. They never seem content on sticking to one style or sound, and are always reinventing themselves. Below The Lights continues this trend of theirs, and it just might be their best effort yet.

There is no distinct "sound" of which to speak, as the album incorporates everything from straight black metal to thrash to death metal, all presented in a progressive/avant garde style. Lots of stops and starts, tempo and mood changes, and various vocal stylings keep even the most attention deficient listener like myself interested. The band proves themselves to be quite proficient musicians, as parts of many of the tunes have a loose but structured experimental sort of feel to them. Some subtle use of acoustic guitars, keyboards and flute adds to the progressive feel of the disc.

Vocally, Grutle Kjellson utilizes his normal black metal rasp, but mixes in some great clean, almost chant-like singing. He even uses some very convincing death growls. He is definitely one of the most underrated and versatile vocalists in metal.

Words really can't do this album justice. It is a great example of what can be done in the field of black metal with a group of talented, creative, and dedicated musicians. It took quite a few listens for me to fully grasp what they were going for, but ultimately it is a very rewarding and enlightening experience. Enslaved have come up with a possible classic here. It doesn't get much better than this.