Live Review: Enslaved – Club Academy, Manchester
8th March 2023
Support: Svalbard, Wayfarer
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Jacob Schwar
Making a swift and speedy return to Manchester after their back-to-back sets at Damnation early last November, Norway’s finest progressive black metal purveyors, Enslaved, have brought their Heimdal show to the Club Academy.
The evening commenced with a set from Wayfarer, whose appreciation and influence of Panopticon, Agalloch and tonight’s headliners is apparent in the band’s overall visual and audio aesthetic. Their epic black metal laced with progressive elements is further enhanced by the occasional jazz flourish and gothic undertone. But, for the most part, these Denver natives stick close to their tried and tested blueprint of lengthy compositions, built around heavy percussion, thundering bass and some Classic Metal riffing. All tracks played tonight are lifted from last year’s American Gothic record, although their four previous full-length releases more than worth the consideration.
Bristol four-piece – and The Razor’s Edge favourites – Svalbard is seemingly the square peg in tonight’s round hole, but they haven’t taken their place with the front-runners of the modern UK metal scene by taking a backward step. Clearly enthused to be here with Enslaved, the band waste no time in laying down a marker for the headliners. Last year’s The Weight of the Mask record gets centre stage, making up more than half of the songs of the set.
The oldest song offered is the opener, Disparity, is both gruff and groovy with some punchy gallops. They’re making Manchester wait for the new stuff as Open Wound follows, Serena’s voice alternating from the angelic to the demonic and back again, while the track powers on, full of bite.
Newbies Faking It and To Wilt Beneath the Weight demonstrate the band’s evolution as songwriters and musicians, and for her diminutive stature and off-stage cheery smiles, Serena wails and growls like a banshee. It’s International Women’s Day which makes Click Bait seem all the more prescient, and it’s a damn catchy tune to boot. Solid rhythms give guitarists and co-vocalists Serena and Liam the opportunity and space to each play blinders, while Lights Out and Eternal Spirits see out the set with a trippy breakdown and an unstoppable rager.
I first saw Enslaved back in 2006 at this very venue on their Ruun tour. That night they had the support of Zyklon, 1349 and Insomnium, and it still lives in the memory as one of the best gigs of the entire decade. I’ve many Enslaved shows under my not-insubstantial belt by now, and every one of them has shown the enduring class of the band.
The between-bands PA music is made up of primordial chants and ancient chords, as though their purpose is to transport us all away from the twenty-first century to the ageless plains of medieval Scandinavia. The intro tape is the opening moments from Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange before the band hit the stage.
Obviously, of the dozen songs played tonight, half are from the most recent Heimdal and Utgard releases. Opener, Kingdom, sets the tone, followed by Homebound’s fluctuations between gritty grinds and soaring melodies. The band have been around along enough to be tight as a drum whenever they take to the stage; their use of tone and texture giving Forest Dweller a more seasoned feel than the titular trees.
Sequence drops with a massive hook as the keys add a certain Pink Floyd ambience and Congelia is a cinematically cosmic epic with a Hawkwind-inspired mid-section.
The first move away from the last two records comes in the form of Isa’s Return to Yggdrasil, now twenty years old and with a more youthful raw nature than what’s been played so far. Not content with having played Below the Lights in its entirety at the Night of Salvation, we get back-to-back The Dead Stare and Havenless, both of which should find a semi-permanent place in all future Enslaved shows.
The title track of the new record brings the main part of the show to an end, the big and bold stomping riff infused with sludgy yet infectious grooves. They return with an Iver Sandøy drum solo and the track Isa. That just leaves Allfáðr Oðinn to close out the night; as much of the evening had been looking at Enslaved’s present, it is fitting they choose to close with one from the 1992 demo.
Having seventeen albums of a near-flawless discography over more than thirty-years means Enslaved are well seasoned and tonight’s show was yet another demonstration of the band’s continued commitment to their craft.
Another triumphant performance? You bet’cha!
Photo credits: Jacob Schwar
