Hear Enslaved’s New “Musical Journey” “Homebound”

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Norwegian avant-garde metal veterans Enslaved have unleashed the lead single, “Homebound,” off their highly anticipated new album, Utgard, which is set to drop this fall via Nuclear Blast. The song arrived paired with an evocative music video — watch and listen below. “Homebound” will be released as a collectible seven-inch vinyl also featuring a B-side cover of the TNT song “Knights of the Thunder.” The vinyl single will be limited to just 500 pieces and is due out on June 26th.

“‘Homebound’ is about the greatest reward of exploring and travelling into unknown territory — to “go viking” if you will, turning homebound at the end of the journey,” the band commented in a joint statement. “It is a song that takes Enslaved on a musical journey that is as much an homage to those who dared so we could play our very own style of music: from nurturing blackened roots to nodding at zeppelins in the sky, beholding teutonic thrash titans and watching speeding motorpsychos take off into the futures.”

The group added, regarding the upcoming album: “‘Utgard’ bears countless meanings to us; an image, metaphor, an esoteric ‘location,’ a word on its own, etc. — on different levels and layers. From Norse mythology we know it as a landscape were the giants roam; where the gods of Asgard have no control; dangerous, chaotic, uncontrollable and where madness, creativeness, humor and chaos dwells.

“The album is a journey into and through ‘Utgard.’ It is a place of unification of that which is above and that which lies below. It is not about avoiding fear of the pitch-black darkness (it will keep on growing until the next confrontation), but to go into the darkness itself. This is the rebirth of the individual. In a world that has become so obsessed with the false lights of greed, jealousy and egotism this is a necessary journey.

“‘Utgard’ is not a fairytale, it is a vital part of both your mind and your surroundings, and it has been since the dawn of mankind. Acknowledging that this realm exists and is a vital part of the self, has inspired us deeply since the early days of our lives. Enjoy our journey to the outer limits.”

See the album’s cover art and track listing below.

Utgard track listing:
01. Fires in the Dark
02. Jettegryta
03. Sequence
04. Homebound
05. Utgardr
06. Urjotun
07. Flight of Thought and Memory
08. Storms of Utgard
09. Distant Seasons