News : ENSLAVED – “Axioma Ethica Odini” Artwork and Track Listing Revealed

Norwegian extreme metal band ENSLAVED will release their new album Axioma Ethica Odini at September 27th in Europe and September 28th in North America.

The album will feature the following tracklisting:
01. Ethica Odini
02. Raidho
03. Waruun
04. The Beacon
05. Axioma
06. Giants
07. Singular
08. Night Sight
09. Lightening

The artwork for Axioma Ethica Odini is done by the Norwegian artist Truls Espedal, who has painted every Enslaved album cover since 2001’s Monumension.

Bassist and vocalist Grutle Kjellson comments: “On every new album cover, me and (rhythm guitarist/songwriter) Ivar (Bjørnson) come up with the idea of what the cover art shall include in terms of elements, symbolism and so forth. After that, we contact Truls and tell him about our ideas for the cover art. Then we arrange a meeting where we sit down for a couple of hours making sketches. Truls also has the opportunity to come up with his own ideas of how we can transform our original ideas the best possible way. He has made a masterpiece this time as well! The cover art is simply amazing! Amazing…”

Artist Truls Espedal comments: “I’m always excited about working with Enslaved, which is the reason I feel that too much time goes by between releases – ha, ha! But once again I sat down with Ivar and Grutle, and their ideas were more complex and interesting than ever. Also, their expectations and confidence that I’m able to come up with something better than before pushes me to set the bar even higher. This time around, we set out to expand further what we have done on earlier works: mixing the figurative paintings with the ‘symbolic’ design even more. By doing this, I feel that we are able to convey a lot more atmosphere, story, and a visually more interesting cover throughout. Hopefully other people will think the same. Good times.”

Axioma Ethica Odini is the eleventh studio album from Enslaved, and is produced by Bjørnson, Kjellson, and keyboardist/backing vocalist Herbrand Larsen.

The album was recorded at three different studios in Bergen, Norway: 1) Duper Studios; 2) Earshot Studios (belonging to Enslaved members Larsen and lead guitarist Ice Dale); and 3) Peersonal Sound (owned by Bjørnson). The album was mixed by Jens Bogren (OPETH, BLOODBATH, AMON AMARTH, ELUVEITIE) at Fascination Street Studios in Orebro, Sweden and mastered by Chris Sansom (MORTIIS) at Propeller Music Division in Oslo, Norway.

Enslaved will embark on a seven-show Circling Above and Within Tour of Europe beginning October 15th. Dates include:

October 15 – Underworld – London, Great Britain
October 16 – Aeronel – Paris, France
October 17 – L’autre Canal – Nancy, France
October 18 – Nouveau Casino – Paris, France
October 20 – Kade – Zaandam, The Netherlands
October 21 – W2 – Den Bosch, The Netherlands
October 22 – Trix – Antwerpen, Belgium