“They raised the axe. He started improvising a poem”: When Enslaved didn’t like their new songs, an old saga saved them

Enslaved guitarist Ivar Bjørnson says the band began making their new album, *Mið*, without songs ready to record, after he decided his prepared material was not good enough. The unusual process pushed the group to write together in the studio and gave the album its central idea: how stories can help people connect and work towards shared goals.

Bjørnson drew on an old Norse saga about a bard who improvised a poem as a king was about to execute him, winning the king’s admiration and saving his life. He said the band’s deadline-like pressure prompted ideas that felt strong as a group. *Mið*, pronounced “Myth” and meaning “Middle”, follows 2023’s *Heimdal* and incorporates influences ranging from Indigenous American chants to Arctic music alongside heavy passages.