25 Days Of Metal 2012: #25 Enslaved – RIITTIIR

December 1st, 2012

Jordan Munson

Rather than counting down the days until we can celebrate Christmas, this year we’re bringing your a series of metal posts will be celebrating the countdown until we don’t have to be inundated with Christmas music and decorations everywhere. To coincide with this countdown We’ll be posting our top 25 metal (and metal-ish) albums of 2012. 25 days of hell, 25 rad metal albums to make up for it.

Number 25 on the list is Enslaved‘s RIITTIIR. For about twenty years now Enslaved have been releasing fantastic metal albums that are all of their own unique take on black metal and RIITTIIR is no different. A mere two years after what is arguably Enslaved’s best album, Axioma Ethica Odini they’ve stayed exactly in line with that, making use of elongated song structures, traditional black metal passages juxtaposed alongside more progressive passages and a slightly raw production style. The songs are long, monolithic and often melancholy, creating a very intense, cohesive listen each and every time. More so than most albums, RIITTIIR makes for a perfect album to listen to in the midst of extreme winter weather, such as a blizzard (a plus if you’re getting snowed on). If you happened to like anything Enslaved has done to this point you will be very pleased with RIITTIIR; new listeners will find this album to be a great starting point for delving into Enslaved’s entire catalog.

Written by: Jordan Munson