NEW ENSLAVED ALBUM IN TWO DAYS? PROBABLY NOT.

UPDATE: A press release clears this up for good: “The title for the new album by Norway’s highly renowned psychedelic post-black metal band ENSLAVED will be announced on the band’s MySpace page on Thursday, July 15th. 12:00CET. Release dates will also be announced.” So there ya have it.

It’s no secret that Enslaved recently recorded a new album for an expected late 2010 release. But is it possible that the band getting ready to release the album suddenly and without any prior promotion, Trent Reznor-style?

Reader Cody Daniels e-mailed us yesterday afternoon to let us know that Nuclear Blast, Enslaved’s most recent label, has left the following message on the band’s Facebook page:

And then when you head over to Enslaved’s MySpace page, there is, indeed, a countdown in progress… a countdown that will end in a little more than two days (less, depending when you’re reading this).

But it seems pretty clear to me that whomever runs Nuclear Blast USA’s Facebook page just didn’t word the message clearly — in other words, that in three days we’re going to get an announcement about the new Enslaved album, not the actual album. I think it’s a safe bet that what we’ll end up with in two days is an album title, cover art, release date, and, if we’re lucky, a stream of a new song. But I can’t say for sure; as of this writing, Nuclear Blast hasn’t responded to our request for clarification.

So I guess we’ll find out soon enough. It would be really awesome to get a new Enslaved album this week… but I’m not getting my hopes up.

-AR