Enslaved at Irving Plaza

Grutle Kjellson

Guitarist Ivar Bjørnson and vocalist/bassist Grutle Kjellson (also known as Kjetil Grutle) formed extreme metal band Enslaved in 1991 in Haugesund, Norway, when they were 13 and 17 years old, respectively. The band name was inspired by an Immortal demo track, "Enslaved in Rot." Bjørnson and Kjellson are the only remaining original members, but by 2004 the line-up solidified with guitarist Arve "Ice Dale" Isdal, keyboardist/vocalist Herbrand Larsen and drummer Cato Bekkevold. They are currently based in Bergen, Norway. Enslaved's 13th and most recent album, In Times, was released March 10, 2015.

Opening for Between the Buried and Me tonight at Irving Plaza, Enslaved performed only six lengthy songs from five albums. Enslaved's performance was on the more gentle realm of the extreme metal spectrum. Chugging along in an almost shoe-gaze manner to odd chord sequences, shifting from loud to low and back to loud again, amid a few vocal screeches, Enslaved moved far from its death metal roots to a more epic progressive metal sound. The crashing drums and heavy guitar chords frequently contrasted the lighter keyboard fills, until they united for either harsh or mellow movements within the complex song structures. Much like Opeth, Enslaved bravely explored melody and noise and everything in between to create imaginative metal music.

Visit Enslaved at www.enslaved.no.