For me, it was a grower. A first for an Enslaved album.
The only song that really caught my attention on the first listen was Reflection, which at this point is still my favorite on the album. It is the heaviest song on the album, and thus the most reminiscent of Ruun and earlier works.
It wasn't until about the 4th or 5th listen that I was able to start fully appreciating everything the album offers. Ground really stands out as a strong song now. It's probably the best example of why this album is garnering a "Pink Floyd-like" reputation. It's got a great solo, and I particularly like the opening riff, as well as ending with the vocals "There's a sound made by BOILING BLOOD!" with the accompanying clean vocals of "Ground" and harsh vocals of Grutle's screams of "Above and below lay the levels". Great mesh of clean and black vocals. The intro song Clouds and The Watcher particularly stand out as well. I've been able to identify and enjoy parts within most if not all the songs now, actually.
This is definitely an album that you'll have to listen to and maybe even come back to in the future to really appreciate.
I've seen quite a bit of negative response to this album, almost as much as positive. For every person that says Vertebrae furthers the ideas and progression the band has taken since Isa, there is someone who mentions it is simply more of the same, and that the past 3 albums have been almost identical. Personally, I don't really agree with this view for one simple reason. Isa and Ruun were much heavier albums than Vertebrae, and on that point alone, they are certainly not on the same path. I've also seen mention that the band should drop the harsh vocals at this point. Songs like Ground and Reflection wouldn't be nearly as good if they were to do that.
