The Sleeping Gods
The title of the EP The Sleeping Gods could inherit several meanings, but if you would start to interpret you would never know if you hit the right one. What seems obvious is, that those sleeping gods are sweet-tempered, as Enslaved are giving this EP away for free. Where? Read on!
The exact background story, why they released this EP for free is mysterious and you could maliciously say, that it is just some kind of making use of leftovers. However, The Sleeping Gods offers nearly thirty minutes of free music and that is the reason why we are going into detail.
The Sleeping Gods is really influenced a lot by their latest release Axioma Ethica Odini but the new songs can not really hold the level of quality. Heimvegn starts in mid-tempo with melodic riffs, decent synthesizer sounds and the beloved clean vocals. This structure does not hold very long, as it gets transformed into a harsher one. The clean vocals are replaced with growls and the guitars are playing more furious. The whole song seems very spheric without unnecessary gimmickry.
Alu Misyrki starts with a melody that is clearly influenced by prog-rock, which suits their new style quite well. This melody is soon accompanied by some growls and rhythm, which recolours the song into something colder. The song is really thrilling and kept in high-tempo which sets a clear contrast according to the opener. Sadly, there are some weaker songs on the EP as well and so is the following “instrumental” Synthesis. This song features six minutes of synthesizer sounds with some vocal samples but nothing really cool.
As the EP is so varied, I have to describe the other two songs as well. Nordlys is another instrumental and it starts nearly as progressive rock like as Alu Misyrki, but a lot slower. The song developes as time flies by and gets harsher and frisky every minute. The title track is the bouncer of the EP and it is really slow, straight-lined but mysterious. Again it offers something totally different than every other song has done. The production is as good as expected, only the cymbals are sounding a bit awkward sometimes.
Conclusion:
As The Sleeping Gods is available for free it clearly has exceeded my expectations in terms of quality. But it has to be compared with their latest output and ,although that might be an unfair comparission, I have to state that it is a lot weaker in terms of complexity and feeling. Those flaws are a bit attenuated as I heard the record several times. The only thing left to ask is: Why aren’t you downloading allready?!
Rating: 87/100
Date of release: 10 Mai 2011
available: here!
Tracklist:
| 1. | Heimvegen | 05:38 | |
| 2. | Alu Misyrki | 05:02 | |
| 3. | Synthesis | 06:19 | |
| 4. | Nordlys | 05:45 | |
| 5. | The Sleeping Gods | 05:44 | |
| Total Playing Time: | 28:28 | ||
