Enslaved Releases Trippy New Video for New Track “Urjotun”

Norwegian progressive black metal band Enslaved just released a new music video for their single “Urjotun” from their upcoming album Utgard due to be released on the Nuclear Blast label on October 2. The video takes viewers through a post-apocalyptic world of industrial wastelands, combining both animation and live footage in dark and glowing colors.

Vocalist Grutle Kjellson commented:

The lyrical idea for Urjotun had been spinning around in the chaos in the back of my head for quite a while, when Ivar sent me the riff-demo last autumn. I knew instantly that this was it, the very soundtrack of the rise of the primeval giant, the Urjotun! Our mutual love and fascination for that early krautrock scene and for bands like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk, finally fully ascended in an Enslaved song, almost 30 years after we picked up those legendary albums. It’s funny, that in Germany they referred to this kind of music as “Kosmische Musik”, cosmic music! And, that is exactly what this song is about; cosmic chaos. On top of this, director David Hall, made a perfect projection and visualization of our troubled minds.

Some random items embedded into the video include a woman walking around with a hazmat suit and gas mask, crows, a building with a communist hammer and sickle symbol, a half-sunken freight liner and an abandoned nuclear power plant.

With “Urjotun,” Enslaved appears to have taken a slight shift from the black metal genre for which they are known to create an interesting classic electronic, kosmische and metal hybrid production. The song starts with synths and electronic-like drums that sound reminiscent of Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk. At around the 30 second mark, a distorted bass and guitar along with acoustic drums begin. Shortly before the two-minute mark, goth-like vocals and a soaring lead guitar begin. Around 2:30, the vocals morph into harsh guttural death metal growls. For the rest of the song, the music round robins between the previously played styles.

In recent news, Enslaved took part in the Roadburn live stream event titled A Cinematic Evening With Enslaved where fans were given the ability to vote on five out of 29 songs that Enslaved included on their first Chronicles Of The Northbound show set list.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat