Review & Photography by Sheri Bicheno for MPM
Wonder-filled, cathartic and energy infusing metal is a pit I quite often find that I’ve thrown myself down – and i’ll gladly stay there for whatever time stretches forward.
There’s a lot to be said for doom and black metal and why at times they go hand in hand so well. The melodic side is, as everyone probably has guessed by now, a side that speaks volumes to me and where able, I will soak it up and try my best to put feelings to paper.
Norwegian forefathers Enslaved are back in the UK and are a stark reminder that bands whom make their mark can evolve without losing the essence of themselves.
I took a near six hour train journey to get to Manchester Academy (and an overnight coach back) to get into a different perspective of these legends.
Along with them, they brought post hardcore favourites Svalbard and immersive masters of atmospherics, Wayfarer into the fold.
Entering the venue, the stage is humble but not small by any means and the space inside is large. Filling with the wonderful sight of Manchester’s metal lovers, it gets packed quickly and things kick off with Denver’s Wayfarer drenched in red lit ambience.
The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise introduces Wayfarer from initially blending acoustic Western style guitars amplified with a seamless drift into a sudden drum kick that imposes an utterly stunning dual of melodic harmonies and beautifully gliding riffs. The atmospherics are huge and deliver cathartic energy here.
Shane McCarthy’s vocals kick in with high, yet deep, searing growls that gives space in places for some ground trembling shrieks, placing more energy into the musicianship these guys display.
The guitars from Shane and Joe Strong-Truscelli shift together with beautiful entwining riffs and harmonies to carry the emotion and melancholy of this track, however what cannot go unnoticed is the sheer precision and skill behind the kit.
Isaac Faulk delivers the beat of this track in its live setting, combining mind blowing double kicks and blast beats with flashes of twists of tempo and well placed contrasts of gentle and frenzied beats.
“Manchester, its so f*cking good to see you again.”
Shane addresses the crowd and tells us they haven’t been back since the released American Gothic, the first full length album since 2020 that was released last year.
The Cattle Thief is a another amazing atmospheric offering with plenty of blastbeats and catchy riffs entwining with some moments of gorgeous melodic guitars. There comes about halfway through the track where after a pure feral energy of frenzied riffs and leads, an ethereal wave is washed over the track and spirals into a stunning ambience that carries you off into the skies before gently rolling you back down to earth with the backbone Jamie Hansen’s low and shimmering basenotes. The energy is absolutely unreal in this track.
False Constellation ends the set with a jawdropping offer. The introduction to this track displays guitar infused harmonies and intricate melodies and gives into Jamie and Shane’s light and dark vocals.
This was my first time seeing Wayfarer and honestly, the first band to blow me away completely upon first impression in a very long time. I’ve discovered a new favourite.
The venue had packed out by the time Wayfarer finished in time for Svalbard – who’s stage were lit in stunning cosmic colours of blues and pinks.
Kicking off with back to the roots Disparity, hooking riffs and shreds are introduced and Serena Cherry smiles warmly into the crowd whilst delivering high end vocals that range through layers of shrieks.
The mix of black metal with a hardcore element is strong here. The guitars from Serena and Liam Phelan deliver frenzied epic riffs and beautiful harmony fret dances racing along the track together and the vocals are pure hardcore.
Mark Lilley is an astounding drummer. His blast beats and tempo changing commands the pace of the track but doesn’t undermine the energy of the guitars and bass – with thundering high hats and speeding double pedals, the effect for epic reach is so high here!
Svalbard are not really a band you can box a genre to, even within sub genre roots about as they are immeasurably eclectic.
Just as you think there’s a black metal crossover with hardcore going on, we’re lulled into a beautiful but false sense of security with completely melodic dream induced waves that soothe down any of that frenzied rush that you’ve just been thrashed by.
Open Wound is a total example of this.
Here is also where Matt Francis really shines with his shimmering bass notes.
I feel like there’s some inspiration from some sythnwave styles here, oddly enough, though it is very not synth wave… it’s a pallette of light and dark with the vocals giving moments of softness against the darker barking vocals in places.
Faking It serves as the first track played from the newest album The Weight of the Mask that was released last year.
I was absolutely absorbed into the skill of this track.
Everyone knows how much I love the melodics of any band but this right here was a slice of bliss.
The intro riffs paint light colours into the track and where the dual vocals are harsh hardcore-esque, this fits so well with the high energy of the track – and let me tell you, the visionary of colours from the stage onto the crowd only heightened that energy.
The guitars display harmonies with underlying skips of tempos that ripple through the pauses of vocals – the spirit of this track is just stunning.
Lights Out serve as another offer from the new album and showcase an offering from the album’s raw side of emotion in a live setting.
Talking to us of depression, how our inner light suffers and that its hard to keep wearing the same mask.
Svalbard are an experience. These guys have been growing over the years and after delivering such an intoxicating and absorbing set, they still come off as super humble with the reception they receive from the crowd.
For the lead up to the mighty Enslaved, the stage is plunged into darkness with glows of red and echoes out subtle chanting every now and then. The crowd is in full readiness by the time they enter the stage.
Blue hues and smoke fill the space they stand and we’re immediately plummeted into Kingdom.
As an intro to the set from the recently released album Heimdal, this was a great choice to explode open the set.
The riffs utterly poured down onto the crowd! This is full on Norwegian metal pelting you at every angle and taking over. The sound is huge and the energy is completely sense dominating.
The mosh pit is already absolutely feral with this track’s intro.
Not many bands present have all of their members have a vocal part or share vocals but Enslaved bring that experience to enhance their music in ways.
Iver Sandøy and Grutle Kjellson take main focus on the vocals over this track with distinctive contrast to clean and guttural vocals. As Iver’s drumming churns in and out of an old school feel to the double pedals and hard beats, his vocals offer an ethereal feel amongst the beats and winding guitars on stage.
Forest Dweller , another new track, bathes the stage in green and immediately we’re plunged into a dreamlike melodic wave of beautiful guitars that lace around each other and grow into a section of cosmic harmonies.
Ivar Bjørnson heads up his signature rhyming sections before Grutle changes the mood of the vocals to face-melting shrieks and catapults the track into a brutal section where Iver Sanøy takes the beats from subtle to a gentle lead up into frenzied blast beats. The keyboards here sound like they shouldn’t work but the passage of fun keys from Håkon Vinje absolutely does!!
It’s an injection of diversity that peaks up and down through this track where there is light and darkness shrouding the overall sound.
We’re taken back to the last album offering from Enslaved with Sequence that open up a different listening experience in its live setting.
The synth keys are subtle but gorgeous behind the choppy riffs of Ivar and though we’re offered that light and dark contrast through the vocals, Iver’s blastbeats melt into the synth keys and allow for them to breathe a beautiful choral style underlying the track before we’re plunged back into the guttural vocals and riff storm.
“So you wanna hear a classic?” Grutle addresses the crowd and makes a joke about the setlist being as long as they could get into the evening.
Return to Yggdrasil is one of my favourite Enslaved songs and I’m so glad it’s in their set tonight. This has always been a shining example to me of the way that Enslaved play with light and darkness in their music.
The guitars offer an absolutely dimension changing element to the sound alongside Grutle’s bassnotes taking the track gradually onto depths of slabs of heaviness.
Ivar and Arve display how they fit the heavier black metal style into drifts of harmonies that play with a more progressive style of atmospherical riffs and marry up amazingly with the pace that the drums command.
The vocals on this track are stunning. Clean vocals contrast with the scratching range of high pitches and result in a track that, live, is a totally encapsulating energy.
The Dead Stare takes us back to early Enslaved and is one of the faster more choppier tracks in the setlist tonight. The crowd responds well to this with the pit churning and headbanging galore whilst title track of new album Heimdel offered a much more doom fuelled experience.
Guitars are as slow and heavy as slabs of granite here and the vocals – PHENOMENAL.
The range of Grutle totally changed in this track to a more raspier and doomy edged take – this effect echoed across the stage from a smoke filled stage and had absolutely the desired effect.
Ending with a classic Allfǫðr Oðinn was something to behold.
The masters of metal, Enslaved finished this set with the bullet speed riffs and killer blastbeating drums bulldozing into the crowd, the vocals PURE facemelting and organ keys touching upon the track that took you back to that old school Norwegian Black Metal mood.
This was the rawest track of the set – taking no prisoners.
I left that venue with my face well and truly melted off.
Sixteen albums and 33 years on, Enslaved are still very much in the heart of what they do and still proving that they are pinnacles within the realms of Black Metal.
Utterly stunning.
Wayfarer photos by Sheri Bicheno
Svalbard & Enslaved photos by Artur Tarczewski taken in London
