''Monumension'' is the sixth studio album by Norwegian

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band Enslaved. It was released on 19 November 2001, through

Osmose Productions Osmose Productions is a French independent record label created in 1991 by Hervé Herbaut, after he had spent three years running a small mail order company. They specialize mainly in death and black metal bands. Many of the groups who began wit ...

. It is Enslaved's first album to feature lyrics sung entirely in English, although some versions of the album include the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

track "Sigmundskvadet" as a bonus. ''Monumension'' was the last Enslaved album to feature guitarist R. Kronheim;

Arve Isdal Arve Isdal (born 28 August 1977, Bergen, Norway), also known as Ice Dale, is a Norwegian musician and producer, best known as lead guitarist for the progressive black metal band Enslaved. Career Isdal was initially influenced by hard rock ba ...

would replace him on ''

Below the Lights ''Below the Lights'' is the seventh full-length album by Norwegian heavy metal band Enslaved. Beyond it being their last full-length for production company Osmose (they would move to Candlelight for their next studio album), a few lineup chang ...

''.

Track listing

Critical reception

From the reviews the album has received, ''Monumension'' has been generally well received.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

praised the album, calling it "astounding" and "truly daring". Chronicles of Chaos's review was generally favorable, though writing, "''Monumension'' occasionally comes across as too over-the-top in terms of its experimentation, and the album as a whole lacks some focus and consistency."

Personnel

; Enslaved *

Ivar Bjørnson Ivar Skontorp Peersen, best known by his stage name Ivar Bjørnson (born 27 November 1977 in Etne), is a Norwegian composer/guitarist for the progressive black/viking metal band Enslaved. Biography Bjørnson is, along with Grutle Kjellson, o ...

– guitar, synthesizers,

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, piano,

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wor ...

, choir vocals on "Sigmundskvadet",

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, mixing * R. Kronheim – guitar, vocals, special effects, choir vocals on "Sigmundskvadet", production, mixing *

Grutle Kjellson Kjetil Tvedte Grutle, better known as Grutle Kjellson (born 24 December 1973 in Sveio, Hordaland, Norway), is the bassist and vocalist of the Norwegian progressive black metal band Enslaved. Together with Ivar Bjørnson, they are the founding an ...

– bass guitar, vocals, choir vocals on "Sigmundskvadet", production, mixing * Dirge Rep (Per Husebø) – drums, percussion, special effects, choir vocals on "Sigmundskvadet", production, mixing ; Additional personnel * Dennis Reksten –

minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

synthesizers, keyboards,

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

, special effects * Trygve Mathiesen - lead vocals on "Hollow Inside" and "Sigmundskvadet" * Trond Veland - backing vocals on "Vision: Sphere of the Elements – A Monument Part II" * Kai Lie – additional choir vocals on "Sigmundskvadet"

Production

Pytten Eirik Hundvin (born 8 February 1950), also known as Pytten, is a Norwegian producer and recording engineer for many classic black metal albums, mainly by Norwegian bands, nearly all of which were recorded in the Grieg Hall in Bergen. Hundvin is ...

(Eirik Hundvin) – production, recording,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Davide Bertolini – recording, engineering * Herbrand Larsen – recording, engineering * Jørgen Træen – mixing

References

{{Authority control Enslaved (band) albums 2001 albums Season of Mist albums