There’s something very unusual about releasing just a demo in 1995, breaking up, and then not putting out a debut album until thirty years later. Yet that’s exactly what Brazilian band Vertebra has now done. It’s a fascinatingly long gap – three decades from demo to debut. So, has the album been worth the wait? Honestly, not really. What we get here is fairly second-rate death/thrash metal that doesn’t leave much of an impression. I can’t say I’m a fan of the vocals, and the production feels rather thin. Beyond that, it sounds perfectly fine, with a few cool riffs and decent ideas scattered throughout.
Still, it must be a satisfying moment for vocalist and guitarist Arildo Leal to finally release a debut album after all these years. Leal is the only original member left, while the rest of the lineup joined more recently. Why the others didn’t take part in the reunion is unknown, though perhaps not surprising if they haven’t been active for the past thirty years. On the positive side, “The Same” does have echoes of Death’s later albums – particularly around the “Symbolic” era. The problem is that it comes across as a weaker version of Death. In the end, it feels more like the Temu edition of Death.
Released July 29th, 2025 on Xtreem Music.
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