Enslaved - Vertebrae (2008)

I haven't kept up with the career of Enslaved lately, though I did like three of the songs from their 2003 offering Below the Lights. But this album is different. I hear a lot of influence from 70's prog/psychadelia, most notably Pink Floyd. There are also some other influences: a little trance, some post-metal, and even a straight-up 80's rock riff that would make Huey Lewis proud (in "Reflections"). None of it really melds that well with their base "prog black metal" sound, leaving this disjointed and rather boring. There are some bright spots (such as the end of "Reflections"), but they never put it all together for even a single good song here, and there's way too much filler to call this a good album.

Their MySpace page has two songs from this album as well as the best song from Below the Lights, "As Fire Swept Clean the Earth".