Below The Lights

Superb album, if one that does sound a little different from other Enslaved releases. It's perhaps their most 'mainstream' metal album but boasts some wonderful songs, great musicianship and excellent production. Top marks.

This album is yet another outing into enslaved untold soundscape. This band manage to reinvent themselves at every stage, no albums being alike. This particular opus is one of my personal favourites (as is everything from monumension onwards) and has some of the more surprising and interestinng elements to be included in their style to date.The old school 70's prog intro to "Queen of Night" may be the most striking addition, remeniscent of Jethro Tull or some other quirky hippy-esq outfit, as well as the almost thrashy "The Dead Stare" this album is full of surprises. My personal favourite track is possibly "Queen of Night" with one of my alltime favourite progessive riff's towards the middle and end of the track.From the onset of the album you are aware that enslaved have turned it up a notch once more and you will be in for another magical journey into ectreme prog land, with the ever so subtle hints of black metal still lingering on the periphery. Fantastic listening!

There are some fantastic ideas on this album, and even the not-so-fantastic ones still somehow work (jazz flute, I'm looking at you). My only real criticism of this album would be the length - at just over 45 minutes, it's over all too quickly. Obviously "progressive" doesn't have to mean ridiculously long, but a few more "normal" length songs would have made it all the better.Overall, it's still a great album, and well worth picking up!

Before I write this review I should say it's the only album of the band's I have heard and so I can't draw any comparisons. This album will most likely fit into the black metal catagory (darkthrone fans please don't lynch me!). This isn't 'true' black metal by any means, for one thing it has real production. However this is nothing like COF or dimmu borgir, this music isn't commercial by any stretch. What it is however is deep and contemplative music, that also happens to be fairly heavy and has screechy vocals. It's kind of a cross between the more atmospheric emperor, and early dark tranquillity. Some of the melodies are really quite beautiful, but there are some fairly crushing moments in there to. In short, if your a 'true' black metal fan who thinks that music should never progress and that putting effort into making albums is 'selling out', You will be abhorred by this. But if your black metal with a bit of thought and a bit of originality, this is definatly worth a listen.