My Top 20 of 2012 – Number 14

Day seven of my Top 20 of 2012 countdown.

If you missed Day 6, check it out here. You’ll also find links there to the previous 5 days, so feel free to check them out as well!

Enslaved
‘Riitiir’
Nuclear Blast Records

At number 14, I give you the perennially impressive and consistent Enslaved with their twelfth album ‘Riitiir’. When I say consistent, I am referring to the quality of the music as opposed to the musical direction as every album that this Norwegian band release is different in some way; sometimes subtly, sometimes massively. In spite of this, each album appears to draw more and more plaudits as well as more fans.

Personally-speaking, ‘Riitiir’ is the most enjoyable release from Enslaved in the past few years which should speak volumes because I have liked everything they have created over the last decade at least. ‘Riitiir’ is different from ‘Axioma Ethica Odini’ but then, that’s the whole point.

‘Riitiir’ seamlessly blends the unlikely bedfellows of black metal and 70s-inspired progressive rock, adding a splash of post rock and heaven knows what else along the way to keep us on our toes. In so doing, Enslaved have produced an album that is at once both schizophrenic, aggressive and disturbing yet at the same time, beautifully accessible.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXNvOM2qlew&w=420&h=315]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PClU6GgQokY&w=420&h=315]