While there is a lot of controversy surrounding bands such as Dimmu Borgir and Old Man's Child for "diluting" the true black metal sound, by incorporating elements of modern metal, radio rock and metalcore, one of such bands that has seemingly gone "under the radar" is the Norwegian Pagan/Viking metal band Enslaved.
If Enslaved once played black metal on their debut "Vikingligr Veldi", a very Neraines-influenced style of droning black metal, they immediately moved towards a much more commercial and accessible sound on their sophomore "Frost". And since then, Enslaved has even rejected the black metal name... saying they play Norse rock... see "I've said from day one that we're not actually a black metal band" (quote from Ivar Bjørnson).
And since then, the music has only evolved further and further from metal for Enslaved... see their latest quasi-goth rock recording "Heimdal". So are they a "Cradle of Filth 2.0"? Not quite.
As you will know, before they went all "Viking mallcore", Enslaved were pretty close to Euronymous and the Norwegian Inner Circle. Much more so than many latecomers (see Dork Funeral). In fact, the debut album "Vikingligr Veldi" was release on Euronymous' own record label Deathlike Silence Productions. That should tell you something.
The Complete Enslaved Interview with Ivar Bjørnson
Enslaved has always been a duo of Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson, with occasional musicians from Satyricon or 1349 joining in as session. So it makes sense to ask one of the founding members, Ivar Bjørnson, what he thought of the early days of the Norwegian black metal scene.
That's exactly what happened in a recent interview with Antoine Grand for the epic "Real Satanic Black Metal" documentary. And the answers are quite direct. No nonsense, if you will.
Enslaved: "I was lucky to get to know Euronymous..."
The first question is, predictably, about the state of the black metal scene in the early 1990s. Of how it all came together.
And of course, at the center stage of all that is one man... the infamous Euronymous, of Mayhem.
Ivar Bjørnson: I was lucky to get to know Euronymous. Whatever esoteric, Satanic beliefs he had, he didn't discuss them with me. All that we had in common was music and guitars. I remember going into his record shop [Helvete] and trying to impress him: 'Do you have anything extreme?' He was like, 'Shut the f[*]ck up! Listen to this!' and gave me some Norwegian prog.
This may seem crazy, but in the old days - before Enslaved became a prog rock outfit reminiscent of Dimmu Borgir - they were actually considered some pretty obscure black metal. Having Euronymous' backing is nothing to scoff at. Beggars can't always be choosers.
"Enslaved was never in that inner black metal satanic thing..."
And what of the numerous black metal controversies, such as arson, killing and alleged satanic rituals (denied by all members, by the way)?
Ivar Bjørnson: We weren't part of that inner black metal satanic thing, whatever they had going on there, but we were close friends, saw him [Euronymous] as a musical mentor.
This echoes many other black metal artists' comments... they may have not liked Euronymous as a person, but all respected his black metal vision. And least they paid lip service to it.
Ivar Bjørnson: I found out that Euronymous had been killed by watching the morning news. [...] When that whole murder business went down it wasn't surprising because there were signs that things were going out of hand. It was of course very saddening but also very frightening.
This also echoes something the Mayhem members themselves said, that the Norwegian police knew about the disputes in the scene because they were allegedly "bugging Euronymous' phones" (see Necrobutcher's interview).
On the subject of Enslaved "changing styles", going in a much more commercial and "radio friendly" direction since the death of said Euronymous... this is something Ivar denies categorically, stating that Enslaved has remained the same through thick and thin.
Ivar Bjørnson: The ambition is still the same as when we first started in those cr[*]ppy rehearsal rooms back then, and we still have a cr[*]ppy rehearsal room by the way, but the one ambition was to play music that we enjoyed and would sort of reflect our musical personalities.
Finally, Ivar shares an anecdote on why black metal artists chose to play such "extreme" music. He has his own theory, that it was a "rebellion" against hippie parents.
Ivar Bjørnson: My parents were hippies; all the black metal kids had hippie parents... black metal was our revenge against the hippies, I guess.
If you want to know more about Enslaved and the early Norwegian black metal scene in general, I suggest you read the "Real Satanic Black Metal" book. It's very interesting. You might learn a thing or two.
But whatever you think of the band's recent output... no one can deny Enslaved' rightful place in black metal history. Unlike many latecomers to the genre, for better or for worse, they were actually there with Euronymous, Varg, Hellhammer, Fenriz and Nocturno Culto. They speak from authority.
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