ENSLAVED. NEW VIDEO. F*CKING EPIC.

In my ongoing attempt at journalistic integrity (haha!), I’ve been re-listening to the albums on my 2008 year-end short list to determine how on earth I’m going to whittle down so many awesome metal albums to just 10. During yesterday’s subway ride to and from Manhattan, my iPod pumped the sweet, sweet sounds of Enslaved’s latest opus of psychadelic blackness into my eardrums, and man… Vertebrae is one fucking solid album! (and apparently Axl agrees)

In perhaps a subtle hint from the metal Gods that Vertebrae should end up higher on the list than it otherwise might have, the band of leather-clad Norwegians dropped a new video today for the song “The Watcher;” and this shit is fucking epic. Look, it’s damn near impossible in this day and age to completely avoid some level of cliche in a metal music video, but director Patric Ullaeus has done a pretty fine job. Except for the lame-o dude in the chains.

-VN