This year, the Winter Solstice was truly joyful thanks to a powerful livestream from Enslaved celebrating our annual death and rebirth. Nothing could be more brutal, or more seasonal.
This December 21, we celebrated with “The Otherworldly Big Band Experience,” an epic performance from the black metal legends. If you didn’t get the chance to watch the livestream yet, check out their performance of “Bounded By Allegiance” below. You can also watch the full livestream through December 24.
Enslaved’s Ivar Bjørnson says of the streaming event:
“The Otherworldly Big Band Experience is about wanting to show even more of what Enslaved is. Enslaved is also an idea. It is a live band that is teeth-grittingly metal, has rock ’n’ roll in its DNA, while maintaining and expanding on its position as a groundbreaking progressive metal act, all while exploring the boundaries of Norse mythology and rune lore, psychology and history.
“We have aspired to create a concert film that reflects this expanded representation of Enslaved and cannot wait to show you all. It is bigger than any project we have done before, and it is unlike anything else you have seen in this kind of music. You will see and hear songs that have never been performed before. Songs you might have heard will sound and look like you haven’t seen and heard before. There is new material, and material as old as the band. One constant binds it all together: it is Enslaved.”
Psychedelic Norwegian prog band Shaman Elephant joined Enslaved for this event. If that video, and this legendary pairing, aren’t enough to get you stoked for the darkest, most brutal time of year, I don’t know what will be. The stream will be available to watch until the end of December 24, and the show initially aired at 12 p.m. PT / 3 p.m. ET.
