Enslaved Bridge Two Worlds

2026-08-18 by John Marinakis CONTRIBUTOR | 12 Comments
Enslaved have released Spirit Helper, a cross-cultural collaboration featuring vocals from Kevin Kicking Woman, an elder of the Blackfeet Nation.

The song emerged from relationships developed through Fire in the Mountains, a festival held on Blackfeet land in Montana. During a later gathering in New York, Kicking Woman shared a traditional morning prayer song with guitarist Ivar Bjørnson and entrusted Enslaved with using it as the foundation of a new composition.

Rather than merely placing the prayer within an existing arrangement, Bjørnson allowed the band's music to follow its rhythm, cadence and spiritual character. He described the resulting track as a connection between different traditions, people, eras and spiritual worlds.

Blackfeet artist Nicholas Rink created the accompanying artwork, using an old map of Norway alongside symbols representing the ocean separating the collaborators, their shared humanity and the movement of the song itself.

https://blabbermouth.net/news/enslaved-reveals-collaborative-track-spirit-helper-featuring-kevin-kicking-woman-of-the-blackfeet-nation



Tagged: Enslaved

Comments:Add a Comment 
Wizard
August 18th 2026
20689 Comments


Garbage song!

Hyperion1001
Emeritus
August 18th 2026
30252 Comments


pretty cool

zaruyache
August 19th 2026
28890 Comments


shut up wiz u poozer

does sound more like an interlude track tho

Dizchu
August 19th 2026
902 Comments


Very cool. I think the Norse and native American shamanic aesthetics have a lot in common, at least in pop culture. Backstory is cool too, I always thought Enslaved took the spiritual/cosmological aspect of Norse paganism more seriously than most bands.

Comatorium.
August 19th 2026
5678 Comments


Song was cool live. Different

Dizchu
August 20th 2026
902 Comments


another new song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8yPilIDAH0

Dreamflight
August 20th 2026
2525 Comments


Album cover looks interesting, the color palette is very different from what they usually go for.

Voivod
Staff Reviewer
August 20th 2026
11922 Comments


It's funny because the title of this news item (bridge two worlds), is exactly the sentiment I got while listening to the new Maȟpíya Lúta album, released on August 7, whereas the Enslaved single was released on July 2.

The track is solid, if somewhat half-baked.

heck
August 20th 2026
7862 Comments


it's a display of well-earned confidence to name your album "Mid"

Dizchu
August 20th 2026
902 Comments


is it just me or does Grutle's snarl get better each album

Veldin
August 20th 2026
6108 Comments


This article is like a month and a half late and now there’s already a new announcement of a full length. New album artwork is amazing and Solar Will is solid. Not sure I love Spirit Helper, but it’s not bad. I thought Heimdal was incredible so I’m interested to see how this pans out.

Ectier
August 20th 2026
5485 Comments


https://youtu.be/K8yPilIDAH0?si=f68znzuA98PxXraf

Solar will



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