New enslaved album out now

Norwegian Viking / Progressive Black Metal veterans Enslaved have today released their 12th full length album and one of the most anticipated metal albums of the year, "RIITIIR". Earlier in the year one of Enslaved's songwriters and founding members, guitarist Ivar Bjørnson, revealed some details behind the concepts on "RIITIIR" through the band's offical Facebook profile:

The album is, as mentioned, entitled RIITIIR - a self-made 'Norse-ified' version of the words 'Rites' / 'Rituals.' RIITIIR = 'The Rites of Man,' to put it in a formulaic and easy way. There is no story with a timeline; again we've built structures that lay above the independent lyrics that we feel more comfortable with letting the reader explore, interpret, or simply discard themselves.

Throughout the summer, the band made a promotional video available for the opening track "Thoughts Like Hammers":

The complete track list for "RIITIIR" is as follows:

1. Thoughts Like Hammers
2. Death in the Eyes of Dawn
3. Veilburner
4. Roots of the Mountain
5. Riitiir
6. Materal
7. Storm of Memories
8. Forsaken

Enslaved was formed in Haugesund, Norway, in 1991 by Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson who at the time were 13 and 17 years old respectively. Enslaved have gradually evolved from a more traditional Black Metal sound at the start of their career, gradually incorporating more Pagan / Viking Black Metal elements and eventually shifting towards Progressive Black Metal at the end of the 90's.

Over their 21 year history, they have released a total of twelve full length albums, as well as three demos, three EPs and a couple of split albums, including the famous "The Forest Is My Throne / Yggdrasill" split with Satyricon released in 1995.

While Enslaved's current sound is a matter of taste among Black Metal fans, many of Enslaved's early albums are widely regarded as classics, most notably "Vikingligr Veldi" and "Frost", both released in 1994. Also, check out our list of the Best Enslaved Albums for a full list.

Although the album has been released today through Nuclear Blast Records in Europe, the release date for North America is set for the 9th of Octobter. Enslaved - RIITIIR is currently available on Amazon.com.