ENSLAVED’s 17th album, Mið, is scheduled for release on October 30, 2026, through Nuclear Blast Records. The Norwegian progressive metal band’s announcement lists three current singles: “Spirit Helper,” featuring Kevin Kicking Woman, “Solar Will” and “Tales of Trees.”
The announcement, supplied by Secret Service Publicity, describes a change in emphasis for the album. ENSLAVED have pared back some of their more sprawling progressive tendencies in favor of a more focused and instinctive approach. The supplied account also identifies a more spontaneous and collaborative creative process behind the record.
Ancient monuments and gathering places provide part of Mið’s conceptual framework. Its other stated inspirations include shared human experience, cultural connections and the need for community, with an emphasis on relationships that extend across generations and cultures.
Musically, the publicity describes the album as combining riffs and extreme-metal intensity with expansive melodies. Those descriptions outline the announced direction of the record rather than an assessment based on the advance recording.
The Bergen band’s background places that approach within more than three decades of activity. ENSLAVED emerged from the Norwegian black metal movement and subsequently incorporated progressive rock, psychedelia and atmospheric elements into their music, alongside Norse history and mythology. The announcement presents Mið as a continuation of that development through a different creative process.
