My first expierences with Enslaved were with the album Monumension. Damn I loved that album, because it was refreshing to me. It was not the standard black metal. To me it was more like the Pink Floyd of black metal. But the albums after that were even better. Now it’s time for Ruun.

 

Enslaved started as a normal viking black metal band, but during the years they created their own style. Enslaved was really becoming a progressive band. The music was still black metal. But black metal is just a part of the styles Enslaved was able to combine in their masterpieces like Monumension, Below the lights and Isa. Some bands return after this kind of progression to their earlier style. But Enslaved seems to never look backwards. Again they created a masterpiece with a great atmosphere.
 

In my opinion Enslaved takes the best parts metal bands ever played in the metal history and combine them in a way no other band does. You  can really hear several decades of rock and metal music in just one album, or sometimes even in just one song. Organs,  psychedelics, stoner, thrashy parts, black metal, you name it. Sometimes the music sounds very simple, but after a few seconds the listener is treated on some technical stuff. But it always remains very organic.

Some people I know, compared the 1^st song of the album ‘Entroper’ with The Queens Of The Stonge Age. And they are right. Actually Ruun continues where Isa stopped, but the song structure is better. On the earlier albums some parts were very contradicting, and were sometimes a little weird to me. On Ruun it all fits better. The combination of awesome compositions with the great production makes this album superb.
 

Fans of Enslaved can buy this album without a pre-listening session. People that never heard a work of this band should definitely listen it.