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I will never be able to separate Enslaved from my experience of attending the Fire in the Mountains festival in 2026. Prior to attending, they were the highest-billed band that I wasn't particularly familiar with, inspiring me to listen through their entire catalog in order. This deep dive gave me the foundation I needed to enjoy their set at the festival, which contributed to what was a genuinely life-changing experience. I emerged from Fire in the Mountains as bona fide Enslaved fan, and since then their new album, Mið, has been one of my most anticipated albums of the year.
In my exploration of Enslaved's catalog linked above, I wrote about how the band's late period was all very good, but blended together for me a bit. The fact that the band was so consistent meant you could almost take them for granted - water is wet, the sky is blue, the new Enslaved album will be good. I also wrote that, for me personally, Enslaved worked best when their music was undergoing some kind of transformation. My favorite Enslaved album to date is Ruun, an album that very much sounds like a band transitioning from one period to another without fully knowing where they're going next. There are a lot of strange diversions and experiments on that album that make it unpredictable and exciting. After this transitional period, it felt like Enslaved really figured out the balance they wanted of all the disparate elements in their music, leading to a run of albums that are precise and effective, but also less mercurial.
With Mið, Enslaved once again feels like a band undergoing a transition. There's a very good reason for that. According to Enslaved's Ivar Bjørnson, before going into the studio to record Mið, he knew it was time for a new approach. He started writing songs for a new album shortly after Heimdal’, but said the demos that came out of those writing sessions were somehow lacking. The band needed a new approach.
The band booked a studio with no material ready to record, opening themselves to the idea that the music would flow through them when it was ready to be revealed. Mið is the product of that leap of faith. Enslaved once again feels like a band in the process of becoming something new, and Mið feels like the start of the next chapter for the band. Unlike Ruun, which felt like a band working to expand its sound, Mið feels like an intentional distillation down to core elements. Mið is a relatively focused album with eight tracks and a roughly 40 minute runtime. The prog rock and psychedelic elements that were so prevalent in the band's 21st Century output have been scaled back for a greater focus on iceberg-splitting riffs. All elements of Enslaved's sonic tapestry are still here: blackened and clean vocals, folk elements, keyboards and swirling moments of brightness, catchy harmonies, but on tracks like "Solar Will," for example, they feel streamlined and distilled for clarity and urgency.
That said, Mið also sees the band striking out in genuinely new directions. The lead single, "Spirit Helper," grew out of Bjørnson's connection to the aforementioned Fire In The Mountains festival. Enslaved built the song around a prayer sung by Blackfeet Elder Kevin Kicking Woman, and you can see a snippet I recorded of its live debut at the festival below (I'm sure there are full-length videos of the song online). The album's first proper song, "I Am Ice," features guest vocals by Sami yoik singer Johan Sara Jr. The way these two tracks incorporate folk traditions from other cultures into the band's sound is genuinely thrilling, and it's something I hope the band continues to explore.
That Mið draws in influences from other cultures is entirely in keeping with the concept of the album, which is that there are forces that have connected and animated all people and all cultures since the earliest human civilizations. The ways of the past can point the way towards a better future and help us grow. These are primal concepts that belong to all cultures. "Primal, untamed will / awakened in salty ground / ever reaching, never conquered / ever pulsating, never blinded," the band sings on "Mountain."
The two collaborative tracks both shine, but the tracks without guests feel just as exciting. I particularly enjoy the shredding gallop and soaring guitar solo of "Solar Will," and the interplay of furious roar and soaring harmonies of "Tale of Trees." "Parting" is Enslaved at its best, with a masterful interplay between quieter, acoustic guitar and clean vocals and throat-shredding blackened growls and chugging riffs.
In the promotional materials for Mið, the band states that Heimdal now feels like the end of an era, and that Mið feels like a new beginning. I believe that most listeners will come away with the same sense. Mið brings everything that Enslaved fans expect from the band to the table, refined and focused with new energy. It brings in new elements, ones that fit perfectly with the band's already-expansive sonic toolkit. The result is a band revitalized. May Mið be the start of an exciting new chapter in Enslaved's storied career.
Enslaved's Mið is out Friday, Oct. 30 via Nuclear Blast Records.