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- Date Released: September 29, 2008
- Genre: Rock/Pop
- Style: Metal
- Label: Nuclear Blast / The Orchard
One of the most inventive bands you've never heard of
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We Say...
Since 1991, Norway's Enslaved have evolved into one of the most thrilling bands to still bubble under the mainstream radar. This relative anonymity has everything to do with the fact that Enslaved play metal: If a group as inventive, inquisitive, sophisticated and just plain ambitious toiled in the indie, country or hip-hop trenches, it'd be the on the cover of Rolling Stone, not British extreme-music mag Terrorizer.
Coming on the heels of 2004's Isa and 2006's Ruun, Vertebrae forms the concluding chapter of a de facto trilogy in which the band pretty much invents its own musical genre. Though it's moved away from the pure black metal from which it was forged (Enslaved is so black metal that it released a split with Emperor in 1993), the group still uses some BM elements (notably thin, strangulated harsh vocals) along with others borrowed from Viking metal (brooding lyrics drenched in wintry imagery and allusions to fortitude in battle), prog (song structures that shoot tendrils in unpredictable directions) and even space rock, with plain ol' hard riffage providing backbone at choice moments.
As befits such a combo, Vertebrae is not easy to apprehend— it works best as a single atmospheric trip, not as individual songs. Twin masterminds Grute Kjellson (bass) and Ivar Bjørnson (guitar) pretty much set up their M.O. in the opening track, "Clouds": the number of moods and textures covered in six minutes is dazzling. While longtime fans may be disappointed by the album's somber, relatively muted tone (there's quite a bit of clean, dreamy vocals, for instance), they should also know that Enslaved can still deliver a blow when they feel like it: "New Dawn" is quite the pulverizing track. -
They Say...
Vertebrae offers further proof that Enslaved have found their groove as a post-black metal proposition: content to carry on testing the boundaries of their relatively exclusive and self-ordained domain, where progressive and psychedelic influences find unlikely sympathy with the extreme musical foundations of yesteryear (which, to the group's immense credit, have not been summarily abandoned). However, at first it seems that Vertebrae will be something of a stylistic holding pattern in relation to acclaimed predecessors Ruun and Isa (even retaining the same exact lineup, for a change), before eventually revealing itself, over prolonged exposure, to indulge in just as much experimentation. In broad terms, this means that the recurring dynamic contrasts between sheer violence and exquisite splendor still account for most of the thrills delivered by these multifaceted and frequently unpredictable songs. But, more specifically, those experiments yield numerous creative breakthroughs, such as the flashes of Pink Floyd worship on "Ground," the jazz-inflected solos found in "Reflection," and the art rock minimalism (à la Tool) heard on "Center," to name but a few. Meanwhile, Vertebrae probably contains an even higher percentage of -- and greater comfort with -- clean vocals on the part of frontman Grutle Kjellson, whose voice is often layered to dense harmonies with those of his bandmates, to wonderful effect. Moreover, Kjellson's lyrical collaborations with the group's guitarist and primary songwriter, Ivar Bjørnson, frequently achieve unprecedented heights of inspiration and clarity on tracks like "Clouds," "Reflection" (again), and the surprisingly optimistic "New Dawn," where existential philosophy and blood-drenched mythology commingle as effortlessly as the aforementioned musical elements (i.e., Viking metal purists will not feel shortchanged). And for all of these reasons, Enslaved continue to represent the absolute evolutionary cutting edge of extreme metal, delivering in Vertebrae yet another spectacle of imagination and quality control, matched only by Sweden's equally consistent Opeth.
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| 01. |  |
Clouds |
6:09 |
|
| 02. | |
To The Coast |
6:27 |
|
| 03. | |
Ground |
6:38 |
|
| 04. | |
Vertebrae |
5:01 |
|
| 05. | |
New Dawn |
5:23 |
|
| 06. | |
Reflection |
7:45 |
|
| 07. | |
Center |
7:33 |
|
| 08. | |
The Watcher |
4:11 |
|
08 Total Tracks, 49:07 Total Length
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Credits
- George Marino - Mastering // Ronni Le Tekro - Guitar // Ronni Le Tekro - Guitar // Ivar Bjørnson - Guitar // Ivar Bjørnson - Producer // Ivar Bjørnson - Engineer // Ivar Bjørnson - Art Direction // Ivar Bjørnson - Group Member // Grutle Kjellson - Bass // Grutle Kjellson - Vocals // Grutle Kjellson - Art Direction // Grutle Kjellson - Group Member // Truls Espedal - Artwork // Truls Espedal - Art Direction // Herbrand Larsen - Organ // Herbrand Larsen - Keyboards // Herbrand Larsen - Vocals // Herbrand Larsen - Producer // Herbrand Larsen - Engineer // Herbrand Larsen - Group Member // Johnny Skalleberg - Engineer
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