Enslaved

Axioma Ethica Odini (Nuclear Blast)
By Mike Delano

To be evil or not to be evil? That’s a question band members in every metal group must ask themselves, and I’d bet that black metal bands in the modern age of genre-bending spend more time than most debating the question. Enslaved get to have it both ways, though: On the latest from these Norwegian vets, there’s enough variety (and talent to pull it off) to satisfy both old-school knuckle-draggers looking for pure eee-ville and the more adventurous, recent Nachtmysium-educated ears looking for something outside the norm. “Waruun” may be the purest display of eyebrows-descended misanthropy on the album, with “Night Sight” its counterpart, what with that song’s occasional clean vocals and relaxed tempo. But there’s really no need to choose a side on Axioma Ethica Odini, since most of the tracks incorporate many disparate elements into one seamless sound. The enormous opening riff of the aptly-titled “Giants” or the Cave-In (circa Jupiter) grandiosity of sections of “Lightening” may crash into something completely different and then turn back again over the course of these mini-epics, but this is no herky-jerky mathcore exercise – it all flows together effortlessly and with fantastic purpose.
(www.nuclearblastusa.com)