Obtained Enslavement

 

Returning to Norway, we encounter a band not as widely known as the elite of the second wave, but one that formed before many of them:  OBTAINED ENSLAVEMENT. Formed in 1989 in Stord, they started out as a three-piece. The founding members initially went by their legal names before adopting evil stage names:  Thomas ("Pest"), Orjan ("Torquemada"), and Ove ("Døden").

They toiled in the underground as a three-piece for a few years before Heks joined as second guitarist and keyboardist in 1992. It was then that they started putting out demos. After their self-titled demo in '92, it was 1993's Out of the Crypts that caught the ear of metalheads worldwide.

In its entirety, here is the Out of the Crypts demo

On their early nineties demos, OE was--like many Norwegian bands at the time--a raw old-school death metal band. Black metal was still in its infancy in Norway, with a mere smattering of second wave albums having been released.

Obtained Enslavement's sound, however, began to evolve. By the time of the release of their self-funded debut album--1994's Centuries of Sorrow--they had begun to take on a more blackened sound. The drum production still sounds pretty death metal to me, but otherwise, it's an aggressive black metal style. Listen below:

From their debut, here is "Dark Holiness"

Despite being basically self-released, Centuries of Sorrow caught the attention of the black metal underground. It didn't sound like the then-typical Norwegian sound. But change was in the air. 

The follow-up was the brilliant Witchcraft, which took three years to release because of issues finding a reliable record label. The aggressive style of Centuries was gone in favor of a more traditional Norwegian black metal riffing. At the same time, Heks's synth playing--with the help of folk and classical instruments--added a grander, more epic feel to the songs. It's an incredible album that belongs in heavy rotation for any fan of melodic and symphonic black metal.

"From Times in Kingdoms..." is from Witchcraft

1998's Soulblight continued the sound of Witchcraft. It was a solid release of symphonic black metal that built on its predecessor. Highlighted by ice-cold riffing, Soulblight is a sorely overlooked classic of Norwegian black metal.

Soulblight gives us "The Dark Night of Souls"

These years were busy times for the members of Obtained Enslavement. In addition to releasing incredible black metal albums, their skills were in high demand elsewhere. Pest, for example, was briefly the vocalist for Gorgoroth--but OE was his main focus.

In 2000, OE released The Shepherd and the Hounds of Hell. An underwhelming release, it sounded more like typical black metal, and had a crisper, cleaner production style. It was not a bad album, but it alienated many fans. Around the time of the release of this album, Pest relocated to the USA. Shortly thereafter, the band broke up.

Select Discography:

Obtained Enslavement (demo) (1992)

Out of the Crypts (demo) (1993)

Centuries of Sorrow (full-length) (1994)

Witchcraft (full-length) (1997)

Soulblight (full-length) (1998)

The Shepherd and the Hounds of Hell (full-length) (2000)

Next time: NEHËMAH