Being sucked into oblivion, lost in translation, thinking of nothing but of the currents of sounds washing through my body as another historical moment occurs. What went on that day was a dangerous meeting of carnage, bliss and perfection, all agonizing together in the glimmer of Metal. ENSLAVED set their foot first time in Israel, which has been waiting to be swept away by mandatorily complex swing at extreme Metal music. Tel Aviv was overrun by the Vikings.

At the midst of the opening season, the Israeli Summer heat that hasn't really started showing its burning red signs just yet, a night of perceived frost began. ETERNAL DECAY, based in the northern Krayot area, Northern Israel, commenced their first wave of attack with relentless traditional Black Metal, composed and written by the book of the genre of the early 90s, fully armored, the antagonists of the light marched with pride, attempting to take their audience by storm. Afterwards came the next attacking wave of the Mesopotamian priests, the veteran ARALLU, devouring with a collection of Blackened / Death Metal orchestrations while enclosing a few Heavy Metal riffing outputs that were quite interesting. Near the end of their set ARALLU even made a tribute to the late Jeff Hanneman (R.I.P.) with a chosen song, "Evil Has No Boundaries". I would have picked a much better classic, and not "Reign In Blood", but actually it fitted the band's profile. Not too much soloing I must admit, but still performed adequately. With ARALLU finishing their set, the coming frost was only minutes away…

Hailing one by one to the stage, blazing with the sounds of the intro "The Sleeping Gods", ENSLAVED began their journey within the Israeli Metal scene. Sinking their teeth with bits of the chosen tracks of nearly their entire discography, but mostly English written songs, ENSLAVED caught me off guard. I remember reviewing "Rittiir" last year, even crowing it as one of my top 10 for 2012, but I never figured their live act was so intense, fierce and meticulous. I was watching artists at work, manipulation Metal music as they wish bowing at their will with impaled riffs of fast paced chaos with a large sum of dissonances and harmonies, masterful clean and growl vocals and a creative rhythm. I have known ENSLAVED for quite some time but not as I would have wished, therefore measures of gaps were fulfilled.  When "Roots Of The Mountain" split the airwaves, I couldn't contain what was going on through my head, so many thoughts, rushing feelings and speeding heartbeat. There was so much drama, malevolence, atmospheric sensation, the peak moment of the Vikings' performance that evening.  A bit after that song I kept back as the band's sound began slicing through me to roughly, I needed to step back and watch from afar. Not that I couldn't see anything afterwards as Reading 3 isn't a stadium of any kind. In a way the sound began to deteriorate a bit but the band's profound deliverance never ceased with "Convoys Of Nothingness", old school Black Metal foreboding barrages of "Slaget I Skogen Bortenfor" and "Fenris" along with the creepy "Isa" to finalize the gig. Without a doubt, other than the sound worsening after near mid half of the performance, ENSLAVED maneuvered between intensity and bliss, brutality and a sheer Folkish manner, remaining true to their deep rooted ancestries but also looking forward towards an harmonic future, this is the true essence of Progressive extreme Metal.