There’s a solitary figure on a frozen plane, playing a strange melody, while a howling storm beats a furious march against his back. He’s probably being chased by goblins as well. That’s one way to describe A Dialogue With The Eeriest Sublime (I, Voidhanger Records) the second album by Italian (kind of one man) band Vertebra Atlantis. Another way would be as intricate, powerful, creative and atmospheric death / black metal. Evocative, lyrical, mysterious, magical.
GG (aka Gabriele Gramaglia, aka Cosmic Putrefaction) is clearly a musical overachiever, having put out a record once a year under various monikers since 2019. Music this elegantly constructed is not something just to be casually dashed off in an afternoon.
A Dialogue With The Eeriest Sublime takes the listener through an existential journey, a search for something that seems just out of reach. References to Icarus and Ouroboros add to the mythical evocation. This journey is like a Greek legend or a folk tale — all delivered against a backdrop of beautifully interwoven melodies of symphonic black/death metal. You might be reminded of nineties Opeth… but with better lyrics (no offence Mike Åkerfeldt)
Of the album’s many highpoints a notable peak is second track “Frostpalace Gloaming Respite”, with its great lumbering, jerking guitar line, powerhouse drumming (one of the few musical tasks not handled by GG) and great melodic shifts (not least the transition three minutes in) and some of the album’s most memorable lead guitar work. Synths add orchestral elements sparingly. They’ll feature more heavily elsewhere and are used to great effect.
Much of the album is carried on savage blasts of double-bass pedalling, fierce zig-zagging guitar lines and part growling-part snarling vocals, all satisfyingly offset with more atmospheric passages — such as the grand orchestration towards the end of “Desperately Ablaze, From The Lowest Lair”
This sequence above leads into the album’s finale (and title track), another highlight and a major sonic departure from all that’s gone before. A shift into a musical landscape somehow reminiscent of Ennio Morricone, “A Dialogue with The Eeriest Sublime” has what sounds like Michael Gira (of Swans) smoothly crooning as he rides his horse across the plane (though presumably a skeleton horse at night, under a full moon).
The track (and album) builds to an eerily beautiful peak, leaving a kind of “did that really just happen” feeling like half-waking out of a vivid dream. It’s a dream you’ll almost certainly want to revisit. Fortunately enough, all you have to do is just press play.
Buy the album here:
https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-dialogue-with-the-eeriest-sublime
9 / 10
TOM OSMAN