Enslaved Debut New Song “Homebound”

It’s Memorial Day weekend, and I think a lot of us are probably feeling very aware that we can’t engage in the usual start-of-summer cookouts and yard parties.

So there’s something kinda funny about the fact that Enslaved’s newly-released single is called “Homebound.” But fret not — they don’t mean “homebound” as in “bound to your home,” but, rather, as in “head back towards your home.” Says the band:

“‘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.

“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.”

Appropriately, then, the track is a mix of the classic Enslaved elements you know and love — progressive, rough-hewn black metal and somber-yet-desirous melodies — but it also sounds like the next stage in Enslaved’s exploration of heavy music: it’s just a wee bit more polished than the Enslaved you’re used to, and the clean vocals sound fuller and warmer than they have in the past. I think fans will dig it.

Check out “Homebound” below. The track will appear on Enslaved’s new album, Utgard, which will be out sometime in the fall.