Enslaved will release their seventeenth studio album, Mið, on October 30 via Nuclear Blast Records. The lead single “Solar Will” is out now with a video, and the band have set their audience a genuine puzzle to go with it: vocalist Grutle Kjellson says the lyrics are built on a rivalry between two figures from Norse mythology, and he’s deliberately refusing to name them. Thirty-five years into one of the most consistently restless careers in heavy music, that’s about right.
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What Mið means
Start with the title, because it’s doing more work than most album titles.
Mið is Old Norse for “centre” or “middle.” That eth character — ð — is pronounced roughly like the “th” in “the,” so it comes out closer to “meeth” than “mid.”
The band frame the record around the concept of the axis: the middle, the origin, and the infinite reach of the present moment. A centre whose reach is infinite.
For a band that named their last two albums after Norse locations and deities — Utgard in 2020, Heimdal in 2023 — turning inward to the idea of the centre itself is a logical next step, and the closing track “I Miðju” translates roughly as “in the middle.” The album is bookended by the concept.
Which is very Enslaved. Nobody else in extreme metal builds records like philosophy theses and gets away with it.
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The riddle in “Solar Will”
Here’s the fun part.
Kjellson says “Solar Will” explores archetypal conflict — in nature, in the cosmos, in mythology, and above all inside the human mind. In this case that conflict is expressed through one of the enduring rivalries in Norse mythology, embodied by two figures he describes as important but often somewhat overlooked.
And then he refuses to name them. Deliberately. He says readers familiar with the tradition will recognise them instantly, but he’d rather each person decode the lyrics themselves — arguing that inviting interpretation and cultivating wonder is one of the essential functions of lyric writing.
So let’s have a go, and we’ll flag this clearly as our reading rather than confirmed fact.
The strongest candidates are Sól and Sköll. Sól is the sun goddess who drives the chariot across the sky each day. Sköll is the wolf who chases her relentlessly, and who in some tellings finally catches and devours her at Ragnarök. It’s a pursuit with no resolution until the end of the world — which lines up precisely with what Kjellson says next: that the conclusion, or more accurately the absence of one, suggests chaos and dreams matter as much to human beings as the things we perceive through our senses. He says the song advocates not for resolution but for acceptance and assimilation of contradictory forces.
A pursuit that never resolves. A sun that is both giver and destroyer. Two figures central to the cosmology and consistently overlooked next to Odin and Thor.
That’s our answer. If you’ve got a better one, the comments are open — which is presumably exactly what he wanted.
Guitarist Ivar Bjørnson’s framing is more direct and a lot funnier. His point: sun cults have existed roughly forever, the sun is a nurturing and terrifying parent that grants and obliterates life, and an object of worship that awe-inspiring demands classic riffs, Bonham-esque drum grooves and blistering melodic flares. That’s what it sounds like to him.
The video was made by Kolibri Media, longtime collaborators based in Bergen.
Mið tracklist
- Non-Being
- I Am Ice (featuring Johan Sara Jr)
- Solar Will
- Mountain
- Spirit Helper (featuring Kevin Kicking Woman)
- Parting
- Tales of Trees
- I Miðju
The two guests nobody’s talking about
Look at tracks two and five again, because this is the most interesting thing on the tracklist and it’s getting almost no coverage.
Johan Sara Jr is a Sámi musician and composer, working in the joik tradition — the indigenous vocal music of the Sámi people of northern Scandinavia, one of the oldest continuous song traditions in Europe. Kevin Kicking Woman is a Blackfeet Nation musician from Montana.
Two indigenous vocal traditions from opposite sides of the northern hemisphere, on the same Norwegian progressive black metal record.
That’s not a novelty booking. Enslaved have spent thirty-five years working with ancestral tradition and pre-Christian belief systems as living material rather than costume, and bringing in artists whose own traditions run on the same principle is a genuinely thoughtful extension of it. On a record about the centre and the axis, having two voices from different edges of the world speak to each other is the entire thesis made audible.
Nobody else in this genre is thinking at that level.
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Thirty-five years of refusing to sit still
Some context for anyone who knows the name and not the catalogue.
Enslaved formed in Haugesund in 1991 — not Bergen, where they’re now based, and a distinction plenty of coverage gets wrong. Founders Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson were teenagers. The Yggdrasill demo followed in 1992, the Hordanes Land mini-album in 1993, and their debut full-length Vikingligr Veldi in spring 1994.
They came out of the same Norwegian scene that produced Mayhem, Emperor and Darkthrone — and while that scene became infamous for reasons that had nothing to do with music, Enslaved were the ones quietly building something that would outlast all of it.
The evolution has been continuous rather than jarring. Early Viking-tinged black metal gave way to progressive song structures, clean vocals, seventies prog textures and psychedelic passages, without ever fully abandoning the ferocity underneath. It’s why they land on our ranking of the most influential black metal bands and the definitive Viking metal list simultaneously, and why they turn up in almost any serious conversation about where extreme metal actually went after 1995.
They’re arguably the band that made atmospheric extremity respectable rather than niche.
Bjørnson and Kjellson remain the only constant members. The current lineup is completed by Arve “Ice Dale” Isdal on guitar, Håkon Vinje on keyboards, and Iver Sandøy on drums.
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Where to see them
Mið arrives October 30, and there’s already a significant date on the horizon beyond it.
Enslaved are confirmed for Maryland Deathfest 2027, running May 27–30 in Baltimore, where they’ll perform Vikingligr Veldi in its entirety — the 1994 debut, front to back.
There’s something neat about that. A band putting out their seventeenth album built around the concept of the centre, and simultaneously going back to play the first thing they ever made. Origin and present moment, which is more or less what the record is about.
TL;DR
- The album: Mið, out October 30, 2026 via Nuclear Blast Records. Eight tracks. Enslaved’s seventeenth studio album.
- The title: Old Norse for “centre” or “middle,” pronounced closer to “meeth” than “mid.” Closing track “I Miðju” translates as “in the middle.”
- The single: “Solar Will,” out now with a video by Bergen’s Kolibri Media.
- The riddle: Grutle Kjellson says the lyrics centre on a rivalry between two overlooked Norse figures, and deliberately refuses to name them. Our reading is Sól and Sköll.
- The guests: Sámi joik artist Johan Sara Jr on “I Am Ice,” and Blackfeet Nation musician Kevin Kicking Woman on “Spirit Helper.”
- The band: formed in Haugesund in 1991, now based in Bergen. Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson are the only constant members across all seventeen albums.
- Coming up: Maryland Deathfest 2027, where they’ll play their 1994 debut Vikingligr Veldi in full.
FAQ
When is Enslaved’s new album released?
Mið arrives October 30, 2026 via Nuclear Blast Records. It’s the band’s seventeenth studio album and follows 2023’s Heimdal.
What does Mið mean?
It’s Old Norse for “centre” or “middle.” Enslaved built the album around the concept of the axis — the middle, the origin, and the infinite reach of the present moment. The closing track, “I Miðju,” translates roughly as “in the middle.” The ð character is pronounced like the “th” in “the.”
What is the Mið tracklist?
Eight tracks: “Non-Being,” “I Am Ice” (featuring Johan Sara Jr), “Solar Will,” “Mountain,” “Spirit Helper” (featuring Kevin Kicking Woman), “Parting,” “Tales of Trees” and “I Miðju.”
What is “Solar Will” about?
Grutle Kjellson has said it explores archetypal conflict in nature, the cosmos, mythology and the human mind, expressed through an enduring rivalry between two figures in Norse mythology whom he has deliberately declined to name — preferring listeners decode the lyrics themselves. He describes the song as advocating not for resolution but for the acceptance and shaping of contradictory forces.
Who is in Enslaved?
Ivar Bjørnson on guitars and Grutle Kjellson on vocals and bass founded the band in Haugesund, Norway in 1991 and remain its only constant members. The current lineup also includes Arve “Ice Dale” Isdal on guitar, Håkon Vinje on keyboards and Iver Sandøy on drums.
Seventeen albums deep and they’re still setting homework. Have a go at the riddle — who do you think the two figures in “Solar Will” are? Drop your answer in the comments. And keep it locked on the Loaded Radio stream — follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
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