Hi michael,
So take a cutting object (a barrel) and do a circular array with vertical step.

Now each barrel needs to be rotated around "it's"original axis, 90 degrees from the first barrel at zero, to the last barrel at 90 (a rotation which spans the vertical distance. The barrel is essentially flopped over onto its side by the end of the array.

Now this needs to happen on a variable pitch, as opposed to a linear pitch of the circular array vertical step.

The "randomize" command allows for the "rotation of individual axis" but its a random application. I dont know if the "morph" rotation can be done with code though...