What is perceived as perfection, exclusive and aloof, yields barren summit in a quest for knowledge beyond the limitations of the self as Lombardy, Italy-based avant-garde and atmospheric blackened death metal trio Vertebra Atlantis stretch into a new cloak of skin, a nigh cinematic experience available to its exploration. Their second full-length album, ‘A Dialogue With the Eeriest Sublime‘, already feels several leagues beyond its predecessor now illustrating in brash yet painterly ink of two distinct shades wherein the majesty available to black metal’s ambitious loft retains the grit-scrubbed warp and spasm of death metal’s more sophisticate musculature. A blend of well curated fineries, a trip to unexpected realms, and an ending which will surprise even the most jaded cultivator all make for a feature which is entertaining beyond its years.

Vertebra Atlantis formed as a quartet back in 2019 by way of members of Cosmic Putrefaction, Spells of Misery and Husqwarnah taking just a few years to resolve their core idea as somewhere between flurries of psychedelic, discord-steeped black metal intensity and the molten edges of atmospheric death metal. We’d witness this sort of Immolation-esque profundity colliding with the riotous wheeling of later 90’s/early 2000’s Emperor in some respects on their debut full-length (‘Lustral Purge in Cerulean Bliss‘, 2021) where tunneling doomed death lurches met with quite intense compositional enthusiasm. That debut sort of floated past my desk at the time, November can sometimes be a wash of last minute interruptions, and I’d always felt bad that I’d not been able to focus on the album more intently having given it brief but positive review at the time. Returning to the album today reveals a record which was very conscious in its surreal drift, a heady and often brutal record which sounds quite feral compared to the sleekened ambitions and gory conglomerate of this second album.

Let’s not too quickly suggest Vertebra Atlantis‘ve tempered their inner-beast just yet but instead mind the more depth-stricken production values up front, starting with the much improved drum presence which trades the artificial clip of ‘Lustral Purge in Cerulean Bliss‘ for a richer but still warfare-ready burst steering things at the center of the mix. The louder clean bass guitar tone of the recording feels well in sync with the more theatric cadence of the drumming as we tumble into the ‘ready hungered fire of opener “Into Cerulean Blood I Bathe” as its twisted movement continues to growl as a fearsome foundational gear. Vocals from drummer R.S. now flex between guttural rasps and ear-clawing growls in more layers, the true stereo play of which we find in the most tempestuous pockets of “Frostpalace Gloaming Respite” this comes with plenty of distanced chorales and wild layers of vocal expression which are used to fill space in the way a synth might’ve on a record like ‘IX Equilibrium‘. We’ve clearly ascended the more subterranean fixation of the first record even just at his point per the second song on the album and the oeuvre of the band is already stunning, zoomed out in its presentation to the point that the suggested Gorguts influences are almost not moderne or dramatic enough to suggest the impressive empyreal flow from one piece to another as the album progresses.

That said, there is still a death metal driver at the core of most of these rhythms perhaps a decidedly progressive one which at times moves just as easily into technical black/death metallic crossroads while offering more than a brutal drag through the thorns of atmospheric death metal. The apex of major hinge-point “Cupio Dissolvi” illustrates how the drumming helps them across this chasm in a most practical sense between its blasting and rolling work beneath the surreal drift of the piece. I wasn’t necessarily totaling the “black” and “death” metal traits on a minute-by-minute basis during every listen but I appreciated the shape-shifting craft as it transcends the simpler mashing together we’d found in USBM in the late 90’s/early 2000’s into something more deftly rooted in sophisticated death metal. One of my favorite songs on the full listen, “Drown in Aether, Sovereign of Withered Ardor“, does well to shed equal light in each realm with an almost melodious black metal pulse at the outset before they build up to a burst around the ~2:49 minute mark before the cavernous downturn beyond ~4:04 minutes. A piece like this does well to cross certain borders between elite death metal modernism and the more stoic side of black metal without falling into the campy, folkish traits which keyboards and back vocals might bring and it takes some quite well arranged synth/orchestration to iron out its point before moving on and to great fanfare from my point of view.

Hungering for transcendence, away from flesh. — This all might seem like a lot of attention to give the first half of a record but the care given to ‘A Dialogue With the Eeriest Sublime‘ warrants it as a busier listen than its predecessor, still containing the subtle signatures of Gramaglia‘s compositional style but keeping the surrealistic drift of the past creeping through these heavier layers of detail while presenting a much more involved arc. If the first half found the protagonist aligning with the empyrean in a quest for ascent (“Cupio Dissolvi” providing the respite overall) then the second half is a rocketing press toward the next plateau with the thrum of “In Starlike Ancient Eyes” taking us to the peak of the ascension with the nearly nine minute epilogue of “Desperate Ablaze, From the Lowest Lair”. It really is important to stick around for the last three pieces on this album, not only for the sake of the contrast these pieces offer beyond Side A but the deceptively final stride towards the grand finale, a blissfully aggressive climb that surprises when the plateau is struck and the title track (“A Dialogue With the Eeriest Sublime”) connects, a payoff and a surprising tonal step which I’d not seen coming per its neo-folk/post-industrial vocal from the brilliant Giorgio Trombino (Assumption, Bottomless) providing grounding for this cinematic waltz of the end as an unreal endpoint which feels like they’ve conveyed a goal reached within the narrative. After a handful of full listens I’d begin to wonder why they’d not used this sound to square off the mid-point of the album yet it’d felt natural to land in this surprising Swans-esque afterworld.

Blissful firmament is yet another cage for the soul. — As this final part of the album arrives it brings this sensation of stepping into a new portal and lends the resultant struggle to describe the exit from said cave to the listener. The “dialog” which happens in this moment, this observation of a new realm, and the light of the image that we don’t fully see suggests itself in an increasingly vivid piece which feels like a breakthrough beyond even the last Cosmic Putrefaction record. Dramatic as the endpoint is it doesn’t overshadow the cinema available to the full listen on repeat, in fact it gives a linear point of egress from the narrative so that it might build its effect again; Considered as a whole the full listen here is yes, perhaps less down and ground in the dirt as the previous record but this feeling of grittiness is traded for an album which is no less rabid in its otherworldly search and eventual success on a mission toward sublimity. The cover art from Babar Moghal helps with this visualization of sojourn and transcendental transit, implying the scale of events imagined and lending a color palette that is just dark enough to fit the monstrous yet exploratory mood of the album. All of this is brilliantly curated for an album which is well contained at ~46 minutes in length yet still elaborate enough in its address that it feels like an experience of grandeur and uncertain enlightenment.

Given some obsessive listening time alongside a more casual examination, of course ‘A Dialogue With the Eeriest Sublime‘ does more for the listener within a concerted listen but there shouldn’t be any one given point that’ll cause the gears of the mind to slip out of place and lose the plot. There is some effective continuity of motion threaded through this time around and this makes for a full listen which darts into many tirades and rants but none which are outlandishly beyond the core conversation Vertebra Atlantis‘ directors intend. That said I wouldn’t recommend just grabbing one random piece and consider it a complete impression from that cut, the real value of this album from my point of view is the effect it generates as a full listen and, again, the length should make this more than possible to digest. They’ve outdone themselves for my taste and this helps land this record as one of the best this month. A very high recommendation.

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