Vertebrae (album)
| Vertebrae | ||||
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| Studio album by Enslaved | ||||
| Released | 29 September 2008 | |||
| Genre | Progressive metal, Viking metal, black metal | |||
| Length | 49:01 | |||
| Label | Indie, Nuclear Blast | |||
| Producer | Enslaved | |||
| Enslaved chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |   |
| Allmusic |  |
| Blabbermouth.net |   |
| MetalSucks | |
Vertebrae is the tenth studio album release by Norwegian metal band Enslaved. It was released on 29 September 2008 via Indie Recordings in Europe and on 28 October 2008 via Nuclear Blast in the US, Enslaved's first album on both labels. It was named as Album of the Year by Terrorizer and was awarded the Norwegian 'Spellemannprisen' for best metal album. The album sold approximately 1,100 copies in its first week in the United States, reaching number 49 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart.
Though Vertebrae's sound is rooted in black metal, AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia describes the album's sound as incorporating elements of jazz and art rock, while Blabbermouth wrote that Enslaved incorporate psychedelic influences and "have traveled light-years beyond the chainmail trappings that defined their early attempts at progressive black metal". Rivadavia also notes the "recurring dynamic contrasts between sheer violence and exquisite splendor" of the "multifaceted" and "frequently unpredictable" songs. The lyrics frequently reference Norse imagery and mythology.
Kjellson has said that "The title symbolizes the building stones in humanity, both physical and mentally, psychologically and biologically. Everything is closely tied together. You can say that the physics are the individual consciousness while the psychics are the outer consciousness. Micro/Macro-cosmos. Explained within mythological terms as the struggle (and also unity) between the Aesir and the giants." The lyrics touch on themes of human potential, as well as human greed, stupidity, and hypocrisy. "They describe how extremely fragile we are when it comes to matters such as materialism, religion, propaganda etc. Humans are extremely weak when it comes to individual behaviour, but we yet have a huge potential. This potential is often obscured somehow and the lyrics deals about different aspects of these matters, mine being the metaphorical/mythological while Ivar's the Psycho-surreal ones."
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