A year ago, Norway’s pioneering cosmic travelers, ENSLAVEDreleased their latest avant-garde creation titled «Heimdal«. To commemorate the studio album’s first year of existence, the band is proud to announce the digital album «Heimdal (Deluxe)«, which will go on sale on March 1 through Nuclear Blast Records.
«Heimdal (Deluxe)» will include the studio album in its entirety, as well as the bonus track «Gangandi«, alternative versions of two songs from the album «Freeze” and “Forest Dweller«, both with sublime performances by the renowned cellist Jo Quailin addition to all of The Otherworldly Big Band Experience – the impressive 2022 streaming event ENSLAVED with the Norwegian prog band Shaman Elephant.
Today, the band has released their deeply mesmerizing track, “Gangandi«, as a preview of the deluxe digital album, which is accompanied by a visualizer.
The vocalist and bassist Grutle Kjellson commented:
«’Gangandi‘ was the last song we did before the recording sessions for ‘Heimdal‘. I remember ivar driving home from Bergen on a Friday night to play a demo of a new song, and I was like, ‘Daaaaamn, this is something else.’ I loved it, but at the same time I felt like it was a little to the left of the rest of the material. When I started thinking about what to sing over it, I ended up writing a cross-rhyming poem in archaic West Norwegian, which further separated the whole effort from the rest of the material.
So, in the end, we ended up not including it on the album, except as a bonus track in the more “exclusive” and limited vinyl versions.
That said, that doesn’t mean we don’t like the song! Quite the opposite. We love this strange hybrid of folk rock, the first Mayhem and King Crimson. It just ended up being the weird cousin of the rest of the songs. Something like your own ENSLAVEDin fact”.
Get «Heimdal (Deluxe)» here. Listen “Gangandi» hereand check out the visualizer below:
The last studio album of ENSLAVED«Heimdal» (published in March 2023), is both a starting point and a communion with the roots forged more than three decades ago in the turbulent death throes of the birth of the Norwegian black metal scene. It is a record that points towards new beginnings, and a dawn that is on the other side of the earth’s vertex. A psychedelic journey through arcane Nordic folklore, connecting with ancient ancestors and our future selves.
The Otherworldly Big Band Experience it was a spectacle ENSLAVED like no other, his biggest and boldest project to date, a colossal, kaleidoscopic stage spectacle with a stellar setlist that spans his career, both past and present. Including some songs never before performed live.
ENSLAVED will be touring the UK and Europe in March. The 16-date tour will take the band to 10 different countries, with support from the British post-hardcore quartet Svalbard and American metalheads wayfarer. Tickets are now on sale here.
Tour dates:
March
6 – London, UK – Islington Assembly Hall
7 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
8 – Manchester, UK – Club Academy
9 – Glasgow, UK – Slay
10 – Dublin, Ireland – Opium
12 – Helmond, Netherlands – Cacaofabriek
13 – Paris, France – La Machine
14 – Geneva, Switzerland – PTR/l’Usine
15 – Montpellier, France – Victoire 2
16 – Milan, Italy – Legend
18 – Prague, Czech Republic – Futurum
19 – Vienna, Austria – Szene
21 – Cologne, Germany – Club Volta
22 – Leipzig, Germany – Taubchenthal
23 – Berlin, Germany – Hole44
24 – Warsaw, Poland – Proxima
ENSLAVED They have also been announced for some festivals in 2024:
July
31-August 3 – Beyond The Gates – Bergen, Norway
August
11 – Bloodstock Festival – Derby, UK
14-17 – Summer Breeze – Dinkelsbühl, Germany
November
16-17 – Mexico Metal Fest – Mexico City, Mexico
ENSLAVED are:
Ivar Bjørnson – guitars
Grutle Kjellson – voice
Arve ‘Ice Dale’ Isdal – guitar
Håkon Vinje – keyboards, clean vocals
Iver Sandøy – drums
(Photo – Roy Bjørge)
