As an epic monument to the old viking times, Enslaved released this album called 'Eld', apparently in the title a counter-part to the one before, 'Frost'. To attempt to capture the variety of feelings, the expanse of history and the accuracy of playing and composition in a short review of this album is a task indeed. 'Eld' manages to capture a real feeling of warfare, living surrounded by strangeness and a kind of ordinariness that convinces you that this is history, not a fantasy. Creatures of legend do exist here, but the conflict is not there, it is presented as being only a conflict in your head; why do you think they should not exist now?

As the magicians of medieval times or the shamans of any age or even the good writers of today have managed to reconcile the seen and the impossible in a philosophy of (sub)conscious ascension from one layer to another in a world that is by default against this kind of progression, Enslaved go forth with the same theorem. The world as we know it is a world in our eyes; shift your eyes, you shift the world.

© 2001 black hate