ENSLAVED — Isa (review)

Album · 2004 · Black Metal

4/5 · 2011-05-12
Xaxaar

No idea how it happened, but Isa went from being the top black metal album on the site to not even in the top twelve. Let's see if this review will help it at all. Let's begin:

Green Reflection/Lunar Force - The album starts off very strong with one of the best black metal songs created. I like the small details on the drumming like hitting the snare hit on the count of 1 instead of 3 and the hits across the toms every so often in replace of the snare rhythm. The chorus and the verse also compliment each other perfectly. And the odd time signature break is also very well written. Also how the song just comes back in after all the ambiance is just too good.

Isa The self titled track. It's a very short and sweet song with the vocal performance being the highlight of it all. It's an overall great song, even if it doesn't stand up to some of the others on this album, but this album is after all Isa, so it still gets a 9.

Ascension - An overall interesting song that never ceases to let loose of my attention. It has a lot of interesting parts where the drums seem to align with the instruments perfectly. But another thing I adore about the song is the keyboard. It adds so much to the verse and the chorus of the song, making it just that much better.

Bounded By Allegiance - It may start off a bit uninteresting and slow, but the whole song just keeps getting better and better. Even though I don't think it's a bad intro by any means, it still doesn't stand up to the rest of the song; having the clean vocals and the growling vocals fit their part perfectly and add to the mood of the song. This song just has a lot going on for it for being only 6 and a half minutes.

Violent Dawning - Another short and sweet one like Isa. What makes this song isn't the verse, but the chorus. As the verse is not bad, but maybe a bit repetitive, the chorus is the thing that shines in this song. One of the "beautiful" moments of the album.

Return to Yggrdasil - Probably my favorite black metal song of all time. I love the powerful intro to it, especially after the outro to Violent Dawning, and then it's gradual climb down again. The acoustic guitar is some of the best that I've ever heard in black metal (given there is not too much). But I just think the whole feel of it is empowering. Just that's the best way to describe the song: Empowering.

Secrets of the Flesh - The last of the "short and sweet" collection I so deemed it. This is the only instrumental on the album, but it still has room for the random screams. It's just a cool riff matched along with some creative song writing. A very good instrumental.

Neogenesis/Communion - The epic to end the album. Starts off right away with a clean vocal entrance and a fantastic riff to boot. Then about two minutes in it starts to transform into a more fast paced song. The riff is just...cool, I have no other way to explain it. I just really like the song structure of this song in general. It picks up again and then ends up fading out with a guitar solo. Just an overall epic song to end one of my favorite albums.