Ivar Bjornson Talks Philosophical Nature of New Enslaved Songs

Over 25 years ago, Enslaved served as one of the architects of the second wave of black metal and were among the small crop of Norwegian bands that spurred a musical revolution. The band never got mixed up with the more nefarious and criminal aspects that dominated headlines in the early and mid-'90s and they have continuously evolved the genre with their forward-thinking take on black metal.

The wheel of evolution remains in motion on their newest album, E, and we got a chance to catch up with one of Enslaved's chief songwriters, Ivar Bjørnson. The band has always had a philosophical element to their lyrics, whether it concerns the mystical powers held by certain runes, cerebral takes on Norse mythology.

"Storm Son is, for me, a song about the relationship between man, or woman for that sake – a person and nature... It's about finding [or] drawing strength and inspiration from nature and I think it's easy to forget these days that all the stuff that we sort of produce in terms of not only art, but I guess like every day objects – everything is an imitation of nature, of what we experienced when we were cavemen or primates," began Bjørnson.

In this interview, Bjørnson also delves into the meaning behind one of the most dynamic tracks in Enslaved's career, "Sacred Horse," as well as introducing new sonic elements into the band's sound, borrowing a bit of the tribal nature from his other projects, Skuggsjá and Wardruna.

We'd like to thank Ivar for stopping by our studio to chat about E, which is out now on Nuclear Blast. To grab your copy of the record, visit the label's webstore and to stay up to date with everything the band is doing, follow them on Facebook.

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