They started in Haugesund in the year I graduated high school, which was way back in 1991, but are now based in Bergen, Norway. I was not listening to them at the time, as I didn't discover them until right around the release of Vertebrae in 2008 as a result of finding Opeth and exploring the more extreme metal I had dismissed when I was younger (which is kind of the opposite of what most people do - mellowing out with the seems to be the norm). They were started by friends Grutle Kjellson (bass and vocals) and Ivar Bjørnson (guitar), and eventually evolved into a five-piece band before the release of Isa in 2004. Their lineup was stable from 2004-2016, with Cato Bekkevold on drums, Arve "Ice Dale" Isdal on guitars, and Herbrand Larsen on keys, vocals, and guitars, but in 2016 Larsen left and was replaced by eminent Håkon Vinje. They just released their fourteenth studio album, E, two weeks ago today, on Friday the 13th of October, which is only fitting...
They had the best ever response to the debate of music downloads following the Norwegian political party Venstre suggesting that all downloads should be legal for free. The leader of Venstre at the time, Lars Sponheim was a farmer with free-range sheep in the mountains, so they decided that since the sheep was grazing on public land, that was similar enough to music being available online, they could just "download" a sheep. They then took it in to the Norwegian parliament to return it to Sponheim - but he wasn't there... Ironically, he was in the mountains reigning in his sheep when they tried bringing it to him. But the point was pretty darn solid, if you ask me - and a much better approach than Metallica's Napster crusade in terms of getting at the heart of the problem with music downloads.
But - back to the song of the day. The album E is really solid, and the opening track really showcases all sides of Enslaved. Storm Son is well worth a listen...
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