Category:
Metal

Try if you like:
Darkthrone, Emperor, Napalm Death, Sanctuary

It's hard to keep up with the great metal releases this year but Enslaved has just provided us with yet another metal gem in their Nuclear Blast debut Vertebrae, 10th album overall. This is an album I was not expecting to be near as good as it is. It's one of those albums you throw on and you can't stop listening. It pulls you in that quick. I reached the end of the last track, "The Watcher" 3 times and quickly restarted the whole album. 

The album starts out with a keyboard intro into "Clouds", the most non-Enslaved song to date. It makes you feel that they are going all electro on you but they quickly change pace making this song one of the best ever from Enslaved. The track "Ground" has a bit of a Canadian Voivod feel to it. It's mellower and a little more atmospheric.  The title track has a lot to offer as well even though it is the shortest song of the set clocking in at just under 5 minutes.

Then Enslaved get down to business on the crushingly heavy and yet strangely groovy "New Dawn", another favorite on the album. "Reflection" starts out with a wicked percussion bit and then gets on with a fairly groovy riff again. I'd never thought I would use "groovy" in an Enslaved review.

Some notes on technical details: the album was mixed by Joe Barresi (Tool, Queens of the Stone Age) and mastered by George Marino (Metallica, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin). The band definitely got their money's worth out of these decisions. The sound on this album is impeccable.