ENSLAVED INTERVIEW
Norwegian heavy metal band ENSLAVED has come a long way since their early viking/black metal days 10+ years ago, and can now more easily be put into the progressive metal genre, without being standardized or typical in any way. A highly original band in my opinion, so of course I had to ask them a few questions ...

Interview by Claus Jensen
1. Hello guys, congratulations on the new disc. I really like it a lot, and think that it takes the sound of Enslaved a step further than where you've ever been before. Then again, I really haven't followed your career since "Eld" so I've missed out on your evolution quite a bit, hehe. Could you try to describe the band's evolution over the years?

Grutle: On "ELD" we slightly started to drift towards the more "Progressive" sound of todays Enslaved. Even on "Blodhemn" you can discover traces of this, although it´s not for the untrained ear! Things are going pretty fast on this album, and a lot of the avantgarde elements are quite well hidden! But, they are there.. On "Mardraum" we finally managed to make some songs were all the different elements found their place in the sound landscape. Personally, I´m very fond of this album. On "Monumension" there are in my opinion two of our best songs ever, "The voices" and "Convoys to nothingness". The rest is not very well arranged, and as a unity, I´m not that satisfied with this album. When we recorded "Below the lights" we were reduced to a three-piece. Kronheim had left the band, which led to a tighter cooperation beetween me and Ivar again. Also Arve Isdal came by and laid some leads. He became a full member of the bands just right after the recordings. Just after Dirge Rep left us. "Below…" became an awesome album that we are really proud of. "Isa" was recorded in july/august of 2004 and now we had become a five-piece for the first time in our existence. Two new members had been added with the talents of Cato and Herbrand. The contribution of our three new members really made the difference, both tecnically, personally and of course also to the arrangements. "Isa" was a huge milestone for Enslaved, and also our biggest success "commercially". We even won some prizes here in Norway! The second best Enslaved album! The best is "Ruun"……ask me what album I prefer in 10 years..hehehe.

2. There's a huge difference in the musical style from "Hordanas Land" to "Frost" then to "Eld" and then to now (and I'm sure there's been just as big a change from album-to-album over the years I've missed out on, right?). Is this because you don't want to limit yourself to one specific sound?

Herbrand: We don't want to limit us to anything really. We will always try to make the best music possible, regardless of genres and styles. I think it's vital for a band to evolve over the years and not make the same album ten times. This is just a thing that happens. We don't sit down and discuss…. "Hmm.. What are we going to do now? More progressive? Hmm… More aggressive?"

Grutle: The minute we start working on new material, we forget everything that we´ve done before. It has always been that way. We are striving to make the most interesting album ever made….when we´ve done that, we promise to quit….yeah right.

3. It also have some disadvantages by changing sound I feel - especially that people who are fans of one specific style might not follow the band onto the next new "sound" … have you experienced that happen with your fans?

Herbrand: I am fan of good music with good energy. Not a particular style or genre. I don't uderstand the people who say: "Oh, that's not metal! I cant' listen to this!!" I think our fans are very openminded and not limit themselves to just one style. They have to be! Hehe…

4. Speaking of limiting ones own fan-basis, you've always had album titles in Norwegian … how come?

Grutle: Have we? I thought f.ex "Below the lights" was English???? Hmmmmm…….I have to check my dictionary. Hehe...

5. You've always had a good response from the homecrowd in Norway, and you've even been nominated for a Grammy … how important is the Norwegian audience to you? I know several bands that say that they don't really care too much about their own national crowd, whereas they are more concerned about bigger markets, such as Japan, USA or Germany …

Herbrand: We care about all of our fans! As I said before: We are into this for the music! Obviously we care for all of our fans where ever they may be! To say that we don't care about our Norwegian audience would be fucking stupid!

6. On "Ruun", there are parts of progressive rock, black metal, heavy metal and occasionally the "viking"-metal style you've been one of the founders of yourself. If you have to name your 3 greatest inspirations within each genre; ProgRock, BlackMetal and HeavyMetal … who'd that be?

Herbrand: Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Darkthrone, Kiss

Grutle: Black/Death Metal: Darkthrone, Autopsy and Bathory. Prog: King Crimson, Rush and Genesis. Heavy Metal/Hard Rock: Kiss, Iron Maiden and TNT.

7. Which musical genre do you actually feel most a part of nowadays? Where's your main audience?

Herbrand: The extreme good metal music genre!

8. Your release party last week had several Norwegian bands playing YOUR songs live … how was that?

Herbrand: That was absolutely fantastic! Lots of Enslaved songs in metal versions, pop versions, prog/pop versions and pychedelia versions.

Grutle: Awesome! The best show ever! Every band was completely fantastic and had really put a lot of effort in adopting our songs. Exellent versions by Vreid, Catcall,The Brimstone Solar Radiation Band, Emmerhoff, Sahg, Petiko and El-Regn! Thanks a lot! We are honoured….

9. You've been with different companies over the years, but are now signed to the local label Tabu Recordings - what's the good points about signing with a Norwegian label?

Grutle: That they were Norwegian had little to do with the choice. We wanted a enthusiastic label that we could communicate with, and a label that actually had a plan! We also didn´t want to sign with a big label and drown in the masses. We needed to be the top-priority band on the label, and Tabu promised us so. We are really satisfied with the change! A really smart move.

10. Where do you see the future of Enslaved going - musically and in terms of success?

Herbrand: Musically it's always hard to tell. We don't sit down and plan our progression. I guess the next record will build further on the ISA/RUUN sound, but it's impossible to be more spesific than that! Of course we hope that more and more people all over the world will discover Enslaved and really get into the music.

11. Feel free to end this interview the way you want to J

Herbrand: Thanks for the interview. Check out www.enslaved.no and www.myspace.com/enslavedmusic for more info and updates!

Grutle: Thanks a lot for the interwiew. Come and check us out on the "Ruun" tour this year! For details, check our homepage.