Enslaved - Vertebrae

This is a decent album that deserves decent review.....beside it was MS pick for 2008

i guess that any MS pick must have a review..specially if it is a good album???

I really like this album, great mix of harsh & clean vocals, the music has its heavy moments but enough prog to keep my attention!

Yeah it's odd this never received a review.

I had more trouble getting into this record than their previous releases.

I recently got this album and all i just can say it's great.not as great as ruun but i still enjoy it.

I think there is a subtle brilliance to this album. It took me awhile to get into it, but after about half a dozen listens, it all clicked into place and it was magical. Standout tracks for me are the title track, "New Dawn" and "Reflection". They are just amazing compositions. I keep saying it, but these guys are musical freaks and certainly at the forefront of modern progressive metal. The only negative comment I will make, and it's only minor, is that one track sounds a bit too much like Pink Floyd and another like Tool. I guess those two bands have been big influences for Enslaved.

Addendum: will add "The Watcher" as a standout track as well. Just brilliant and great live when I saw them in Sydney. It also has a cool video clip.

Good album. Maybe even very good, but still compared to its two predecessors and its follow-ups it doesn't sound as captivating to my ears...

I really love To the Coast and Center--To the Coast makes me feel like I'm riding the ocean waves on a viking longship, and Center puts me right in the middle of an ancient temple of mystics and shamans--but the entire album sounds pretty magical to me. I love it.

Apparently I seem to like different parts of Enslaved than other people, 'cause I found this album more enjoyable than Axioma Ethica Odini.

Out of Enslaved's last five albums, this is for me the weakest of the lot. It's not the weakest by much however, given that there are still many creative songs to choose from, the best of which in my opinion being "Clouds", the title track and "The Watcher". What made me lower the rating is how sometimes there seems to be much more emphasis on atmosphere more than anything else, and whilst that works to the band's advantage for the most part, it makes songs such as "New Dawn" and "Center" mediocre in places. Still a generally great album though.

Boooooooooooring. Aside from the solo in "Ground" and some of "New Dawn," there is nothing of note here. Probably their worst album. Not horrible, just freakin' dull.

I remember listening to this album years ago, and enjoying it very much, so I decided to give it another listen recently. Unfortunately it wasn't nearly as good as I had remembered it. A solid record nonetheless. Favorite tracks: Reflection, The Watcher.

This is my first and favorite album from them.

I like this album way more than this album deserves. "Center" just blows me away every time, and while I find "The Watcher" to be a sub-par track on it's own, it just works so damn well as an album closer.

To tell the truth, most of these songs are actually quite boring on their own, but for some reason, when they're all listened to as a whole album, they somehow work together and strengthen each other. Odd, because this is not a concept album, and the songs don't flow or transition seamlessly in any particularly remarkable way, but all the same, the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts.

I can tell why other people don't really care for this album that much, but... I don't know, it just seems to work really well for me.

Written by Jaeryd on 09.03.2015 at 20:01

I like this album way more than this album deserves. "Center" just blows me away every time

"Center" is probably the only song that comes close to stealing "Lightening's" title of my favorite ever Enslaved song. Just as with you, that song simply blows me away.

I should like this album more than I do. It is a good album, but it should be great. Don't know why though. I like the concept, I like the style. Probably a lack of memorable songs.

Like RIITIIR, I think people perhaps slightly underestimate this album, probably because how strong the few albums before and one immediately after are, but I like the more proggy nature and slightly softer feel of it, it makes it stand out from the other albums. "Clouds", "Ground" and "Center" are all really strong songs with some super-pleasant lead guitars and solos on them, and there's a fair few moments that actually make the 'Black Floyd' tag sound reasonable

Just listened to this album a few times again recently, and I guess I'll just restate what I've said before: this album doesn't seem to be that good for how much I enjoy it, but I end up enjoying the shit out of it all the same. Center is the most memorable song, and the rest of them are pretty much "meh". However, somehow this album--when listened to as a whole and in one sitting--still takes you on a quite a musical journey. Each song is strengthened by its context in the album, and by every other track's presence on it.

tbh I've been going back to listen to Enslaved's other albums as well, and it seems like a lot of their songs are similarly enjoyable for this reason: a lot of the playing time in each of their songs are filled with "meh", yet each song seems to have a really strong part that just blows me away and basically turns the rest of the song into a journey that is essential for building up to those moments.

For example, in RIITIIR, songs like Veilburner start off weak and meanders through a bunch of okay-ish stuff, but it ends with such a powerful musical moment that it makes the rest of it worth it--necessary, even. For this album, To the Coast starts off with such an amazing, powerful moment that I can feel the salty spray of ocean water on my face as I listen to it. Even though some parts of that song aren't super great, they're made better by the presence of that moment, and it wouldn't feel whole without those less enjoyable parts.

I don't know how Enslaved manage to make this work, but they do. Part of what makes them unique, I guess.

I don't like this, weakest so far from this band, what can I say? nothing fits, so prog sound demands clean vocals, band did growls, basically reason why I hate pprog and all prog evolutions

Rules just like almost everything they did. Clouds, To The Coast, Ground, Vertebrae, Reflection and specially, The Watchers, are all brilliant songs.

'Vertebrae' sends shivers down my spine

Always felt this album was reaaallly lacking in songwriting. Feels like they just wrote a metal album, skipping almost all the prog.

This was a great listen. The songwriting is impeccable. The vocals about me a boy though. Favourite track - reflection.

The mix of prog rhythms and black metal vocals. The riffs, the drumming, the atmosphere. The melodies, the impact. This is a 10/10 album for me if ever there was one.

My personal Top 3 songs from the album:

The Watcher
Center
Ground

Even though I don't particularly like that chorus on "New Dawn", the way the song starts and then rides that fast riff, mmmm, chef's kiss, perfect way to get your attention back in the middle of the album. And then "Reflection" is just pure bliss throughout, especially for a listener like me with an affection for the drums☺️ One of their best records.