ISA

ISA is the first album from Enslaved that I really like. I have listened the Below the lights and Monumensum but never found the charm. But I must say that I am awestrucken when listening to ISA. This is so beautiful in a cold and brutal way, just the way I like it. Enslaved mix death/ black metal with seventies prog rock ( Vintage keyboards) not unlike Opeth.

Enslaved uses both growling and clean vocals on ISA and it works perfectly. The growling vocals are too low in the mix for my taste but it´s nothing that overshadows the fact that ISA is a revelation for Enslaved. What a development from Below the Lights.

ISA is so perfect and balanced in any way possible ( except for the the low mix on the growling vocal), that this is a true masterpiece. Listen to songs like ISA, Bounded By Allegiance and the great epic Neogenesis. These songs are perfect examples of Enslaved´s brilliance. The songs are very atmospheric and the use of synth and keyboard in the songs makes the pretty simple metal riffing exciting. Enslaved is not a complex band by any means. They play pretty simple stuff, but spice it up with the aforementioned vintage synth/ Keyboard sounds and great atmospheric/ melodic singing.

This album deserves the masterpiece stamp, because the compositions are flawless and listening to this album from beginning to end gives me great pleasure every time. I´m sure that in 20 years this album will still be a classic in the Death metal/ Prog rock genre.

All hail Enslaved ( My nordic brothers)