I'm going to drop a big shocker on you right now, I am a big time Enslaved fan. Okay, so maybe that doesn't come as much of a surprise, but I needed a hook to kick this thing off. Skuggsjá is a project from the minds of Einar Selvik (ex-Gorgoroth, etc) and Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved). And while the project bares some of the marks of the blackened progressive majesty of one of the biggest black metal bands out there, A Piece for Mind & Mirror is much more in line with the works of Sólstafir.
Aside from the title track, which features a guest appearance from Grutle, there are no harsh vocals on this album. It is a weightless combo of ethereal post metal and transcendent folk music. Again, these are elements that should sound familiar from certain snapshots of albums like In Times and RIITIIR right down to those trademark synthesizers. However, never before has Ivar been so free to take these sounds to their most obvious beginnings and endings.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that each track is less a song than a mantra. It's an act of meditation. In addition to the impressively immersive work from the core band members, there are a number of other guest musicians lulling us into a different state of consciousness. Harding fiddle and birch bark lure play a huge part in making the whole experience feel...genuine? Traditional? I can't quite grasp the right word, but suffice it to say that as I listen right now to the over 10 minute chillness that is "Vitkispá," I feel like I am taking part in some ancient ceremony or rite of passage. Or perhaps hearing history straight from the ghosts of the past.
Furthermore, I can't count how many tracks like this often bore me to tears, but something about what Einar and Ivar have done here is just so enticing. It's...beautiful really. Even a little thing like "Bøn Om Ending - Bøn Om Byrjing," says more to me about music and life in 2 minutes than most entire albums do. And that's all while speaking a language I do not understand. And the strings and vocal performance on that final track are simply haunting. Kudos you guys. You have made something quite interesting here.
A Piece for Mind & Mirror is out today and streaming on bandcamp. You can pick it up via Season of Mist. Sometimes metal doesn't have to be metal at all.