VERTEBRA ATLANTIS is an Experimental/Black/Death Metal band from Italy, formed in 2019. This is their second album, and it has seven songs. “Into Cerulean Blood I Bathe” is first. The opening symphonic tones are somewhat easy on the ears, until the song gradually grows in sonority. By the time it reaches its peak, it is thick, overgrown and chaotic, with some Progressive elements to boot. The vocals vary from screams to deep gutturals, and a heavy dissonance abounds. “Frostpalace Gloaming Respite” is another heavily dissonant song that almost has a jovial swing to it, and the juxtaposition of sounds is striking. As layers are added, the sound crosses over into near chaos.

“Drown in Aether, Sovereign of Withered Ardor” is as odd as it sounds, with vocal that vary from screams, to whispers, to gutturals. You need to search within the many layers of this song however to find the central themes. The symphonic elements are very well done also. “Cupio Dissolvi” is an instrumental with delicate tones that move back and forth between the shadows and the light, and they create a tension that is thick, and earnest. “In Starlike Ancient Eyes” is a slower, and more punishing grind, and some of the guitar chords have very strange progressions. This is one thing that reflects the band’s talent.

“Desperately Ablaze, from the Lowest Lair” is a near nine-minute opus. The song is very expansive, with some wonderful symphonic elements easing under the aggressiveness. There are even some flute notes. Try to keep up with all the chord and meter changes…it’s nearly impossible. The title track closes the album. Clean vocals and tension lead the song, with charming piano notes. It shows another side of the band songwriting prowess. It’s very beautiful, but you keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it never does. The tension is so thick, you couldn’t cut it with a machete.

I, Voidhanger Records has both some of the oddest and some of the most exciting artists on their roster. VERTEBRE ATLANTIS is both of these things. Immensely talented, they display one of the strangest collection of songs on the album that one could surmise comes from the mind of a genius. Although the songs are not easily digestible, it does not take away from the way that your brain attempts to make sense of the music. If you let yourself go and just get lost in it, it could change you as a person…your inner sense of being, your outlook on things…and even some of the principles you thought were rock solid. Great music can do that.