Review by Daniel for Enslaved - Hordanes Land (1993)

The Norwegian Second Wave of Black Metal hit my teenage life like a tonne of bricks back in 1992. I'd already been a fan of First Wave black metal bands like Bathory, Hellhammer & Sarcofago for some time by that stage but the likes of Darkthrone & Burzum took my fascination with the dark majesty of this sound to an all-new level that compared favourably with my metal genre of choice at time i.e. death metal. I'd soon find myself seeking out the more underground material the black metal scene had to offer & in large quantities too, locking myself away in a completely blackened bedroom with my headphones on while fantasizing about life in an icy forest of trolls. This would be the time that I'd discover the now legendary Enslaved after I picked up their split CD with fellow Norwegian superstars Emperor in late 1993, a release that only increased my appetite for this style of music. Before long I would find myself seeking out Enslaved's early demo recordings in order to further quench my thirst but it would be the "Hordanes Land" E.P. that represented the band's coming of age as artists & would signal the start of their rise to the top of the black metal ranks. I've revisited it many times over the years but this will be the first time I've attempted to rate or review this release which I know so well after all this time.

The "Hordanes Land" E.P. is a three-song affair that spans just over half an hour with each track being of significant length. It was recorded during September & October of 1992 at Lydloftet, Ølen with the assistance of a trio of producers in Reinhardt Toresen, K. B. Bjørkhaug & K. Ulland, none of which had made a name for themselves prior to this release. The result of those sessions is instantly recognizable as the classic Norwegian black metal sound though & it puts Enslaved in the discussion as far as the earlier protagonists of the Norwegian movement. Enslaved's lineup was only a trio at the time but the three pieces they'd produce were all very ambitious & expansive for a group of young musicians, none of them having reached their nineteenth birthday at the time with guitarist Ivar Bjørnson (Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik/Borknagar/Mysticum/Trinacria) amazingly being just fourteen when "Hordanes Land" was recorded. The title of the E.P., which is taken from the old Norwegian language, can be translated as "Land of the Hordes" & is a very good depiction of the adventure & majesty that can be found within.

The early Enslaved sound in much less progressive than the one they'd go on to create in later years but was still highly sophisticated for the early black metal movement with the song structures all taking a number of turns in a variety of different directions. There are a few drastic changes that can feel a little jerky at times but it's not a major issue. The epic thirteen-minute opening track "Slaget i skogen bortenfor" is by far the most significant of the three inclusions & was comfortably my favourite song on the split CD with Emperor that received such regular play time with me as a late teenager. In fact, it's the reason that I've always held the Enslaved side of that split CD in slightly higher regard than the Emperor one, despite it being of a similar quality in many respects. I adore the blasting drums of Trym (Emperor/Zyklon) & their combination with bassist Grutle Kjellson's tortured shrieks & Bjørnson's wonderful use of keyboards was highly influential at the time. It's also a feature of the split release with Emperor employing a similar approach on their self-titled. The use of acoustic guitars gives this track an organic feel that simply oozes of the cold Norwegian landscape of snow-covered forests & leaves an accurate depiction of just how influential Enslaved were on how the Second Wave sound developed over the coming years. It's not a huge stretch to be able to predict the more progressive leanings that Enslaved would take with their sound in the future given just how ambitious this early material was for such an immature trio of kids. The other two pieces are a touch less expansive but are still as overt in their creativity. The second track "Allfǫðr Oðinn" appeared on Enslaved's 1992 "Yggdrasill" demo tape where I quite liked it but here we see it being taken to another level. The early part of the song sounds noticeably less sophisticated & epic than "Slaget i skogen bortenfor" but at the two-minute mark the band hit on a classic Norwegian tremolo-picked melodic guitar theme that takes things into the stratosphere &, in doing so, predicts so many of the great black metal that was to come over the remainder of the decade. The song-writing is a little patchy but this theme alone plays such a significant role in the way the song plays out that it single-handedly manages to drag "Allfǫðr Oðinn" into very solid territory. The ten-minute closer "Balfǫr" is comfortably the weaker of the three inclusions in my opinion although I do still enjoy it. The use of keyboards is a little cheesier on this one & it's a little more melodic & a touch less dark than the other two pieces too although the use of acoustic guitar is very effective & things ramp up significantly when Trym gets his blast beats on.

Perhaps "Hordanes Land" doesn't represent the peak of Enslaved's creative journey but it was still very much their coming of age as artists & is especially impressive when you consider the relative immaturity of the three musicians involved. I'm particularly amazed at the scope of musicality that's been drawn out of Bjørnson here as his contribution often sounds incredibly mature for a child of just fourteen years old. It's really no wonder that we'd see him pushing Enslaved into my progressive territories in the future as he still had a whole world of musical exploration ahead of him. It's interesting to ponder on how he came to have such a strong understanding of the black metal ethos at such a young age too. I'd imagine that he must have had some older & fairly well-informed influences around him during the previous few years. Enslaved would return with their debut album "Vikingligr veldi" the following year, a release that I still regard as their finest black metal work to this day, but "Hordanes Land" really wasn't all that far behind when you look at it in the modern day. I'm not sure that I've ever regarded Enslaved as a tier one black metal producer but this is a damn fine first-up effort nonetheless & should be an essential inclusion in any black metal fans collection.

For fans of Helheim, Emperor & early Borknagar.