In the fifth of nine installments, bassist/vocalist Grutle Kjellson and rhythm guitarist/songwriter Ivar Bjørnson of the progressive/psychedelic Norwegian black metal band ENSLAVED offer commentary on the songs that will appear on the band’s new album, Axioma Ethica Odini, which is scheduled for release in Europe on September 27th and in North America on September 28th.

Grutle on 'Axioma': “A little psychedelic island in the middle of the ocean of great riffs? Heh, heh... I like this little synth/vocal piece. It works out as a nice break right in the middle of the record. Me and Ivar wrote the lyrics together for this one and it deals in general with how one shall ignore everything but mere true sayings, i.e. axioms.”

Ivar on 'Axioma': “It had simply been too many years since we’ve had any kind of ‘intermezzo,’ one of the classic ‘tricks’ of pompous early-‘90s Norwegian metal. Axioma Ethica Odini is a quite long album in terms of Enslaved's music being intense and containing so much info in each song; it felt like a smart thing to split it in some way. Also, I got the chance to pay tribute to my synth heroes from the ‘70s: Klaus Schultze, Tangerine Dream, and Brian Eno. I used to handle the keys in Enslaved and I am still very much into that kind of keyboard usage: Eerie synths, mellotrons, organs, etc. Sampled orchestras are not my cup of tea, heh heh. The lyrics for the song are surreal and cold – as is the world for someone out to find truth at any cost.”

Click here to read the commentaries on 'Ethica Odini', 'Raidho', 'Waruun', and 'The Beacon'.

Axioma Ethica Odini will feature the following tracklisting:

'Ethica Odini'

'Raidho'

'Waruun'

'The Beacon'

'Axioma'

'Giants'

'Singular'

'Night Sight'

'Lightening'

Audio samples of all tracks from Axioma Ethica Odini are available online at Amazon.co.uk.

Enslaved recently launched a 'Ethica Odini' Fan Video Contest. More information on the flyer below. Further details at this location.

Enslaved will embark on a seven-show Circling Above And Within Tour of Europe beginning October 15th and will return to North America in November as the direct support act for DIMMU BORGIR. All upcoming tour dates are available here.