ENSLAVED guitarist, songwriter, and founding member Ivar Bjørnson has been announced as one of the curators of Roadburn Festival 2015 (scheduled for April 9th – 12th in The Netherlands) alongside WARDRUNA's Einar Kvitrafn Selvik. As co-curators, both Ivar and Einar will personally select the bands for the “Houses of the Holistic” 20th edition of the festival; their respective bands, ENSLAVED and WARDRUNA, will also perform.
The Norwegian curating team - both former Roadburn performers - have played an important role in bringing together the past, present, and future sounds of the hard rock, progressive metal, and alternative scenes as musicians, which makes them the ideal choice to carry on the festival’s tradition which began in 2008.
“To say that my dream as a kid was to one day curate the Roadburn Festival would perhaps be to take it a tad too far – but it isn’t that far from the truth,” shares Bjørnson from his home in Norway. “There’s some ridiculously big shoes to fill, but luckily negative pressure, idea draught, and performance anxiety aren’t something I’m into. It is my favorite festival in one of my favorite parts of the world, so this is nothing short of one the biggest honors I’ve been given! It is a privilege to undertake this challenge in twosome with Einar - an artist I truly feel in tune with artistically and philosophically. Now it is all about hard work and dedication to ensure that the audience and the festival itself is given a Friday to enjoy, experience, and remember. I, for one, can’t wait!”
One of the most hard-hitting and progressive bands to come out of Norway, ENSLAVED has drawn other musical genres and artistic expressions into the realm of metal. While being recognized for merging tradition and modernity in a unique blend of rock, prog, and black metal, they’ve earned Spellemann Awards (Norwegian Grammys) for their much-acclaimed and groundbreaking albums such as Isa (2004), Ruun (2006), Vertebrae (2008), and Axioma Ethica Odini (2010) among seven Spellemann Award nominations that included studio albums Mardraum (2000), Below The Lights (2003), and RIITIIR (2012).
ENSLAVED 's performance on Friday, April 10th has been dubbed “House of Northern Gods” and will consist of a set list especially put together for the “Houses of the Holistic” theme, featuring songs from the band's entire catalogue that embody the Norse gods with accompanying visuals created by revered Romanian artist Costin Chioreanu. Be prepared for a surprise or two, or even more.
Roadburn Festival 2015 will run for four days from Thursday, April 9 to Sunday, April 12, 2015 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands.
RIITIIR is ENSLAVED’s latest studio album and can be purchased in CD, vinyl, and cassette formats from the Nuclear Blast USA Webshop.
Official lyric videos on the Nuclear Blast YouTube channel:
• “Thoughts Like Hammers” - http://youtu.be/Vmyth2ybwHQ
• “Veilburner” - http://youtu.be/YoMInT2Ysi0
Official music video on Scion AV:
• “Thoughts Like Hammers” - http://youtu.be/dQz0_m16SaU
Simple, elegant, and saturated with emotion & atmosphere at www.ENSLAVED.no.
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Follow: Twitter.com/ENSLAVEDBAND
Watch: www.YouTube.com/ENSLAVEDOFFICIAL
