special introductory
paragraph!
Pain Of Mind
Aberration 7"
The Word As Law
Souls At Zero
Enemy Of The Sun
Through Silver In
Blood
Times Of Grace
Sovereign
A Sun That Never Sets
Neurosis & Jarboe
The Eye Of Every Storm
Given To The Rising
They started off as a cool, bitter
hardcore band and quickly turned into a slow, punishing, depressing killing
machine. If feeling bad is for you, buy and buy some more!
This album is straight hardcore punk (and GREAT
hardcore punk), but even at this point, there was something incredibly
bitter and depressing about the band's sound. The chord sequences don't
have even an OUNCE of "pop" in them. The riffs are extremely angry,
bordering on ugly, and the vocals are all done in a monotone top-of-lungs
scream. The overall result is similar to having a really angry pit bull
thrashing your body around in a junkyard for 35 minutes. Luckily, all the
songs are really fast so they don't pound you slowly into the dirt like the
band's later material. Instead, you bang your head quickly and wonder how
any member of this band could ever feel happiness, either as a result of
their music or anything else going on their lives. I feel so very sad for
them. Can I buy them a cookie?
Is it just me or does the into to 'Black' sound like 'Simple Man' by Lynyrd Skynyrd? Never noticed the Skynyrd influence before, I'll have to go back and listen to 'Enemy Of The Sun' more closely now.
Their final kibosh as a bitter hardcore punk band. "Self-Doubt" combines a spy theme intro with genuinely angry screaming; "Nonsense" merges queasy sickness with standard NYHC hate-metal; and "Pollution" features a slower and more warped note riff to warn you of stylistic detours to come. The mix is similar to that of Cryptic Slaughter's chart-topping Stream of Consciousness LP, with a guitar tone so chintzy, trebly and fuzzed-to-hell that you'd never be able to make out what it's playing if the bass weren't doubling it note-for-note. It's a good single, but they'd covered this area pretty comprehensively on Pain Of Mind; it was time for a change. And Oh! The change!
Now here's a bunch of names I made up for baseball teams. Go make a league and use these names:
The Ballhitters
The first thing you notice about this album is
that the cover has a picture of a tongue with a spike shoved through it.
The second thing you notice is that it only has eight songs and only one of
them is shorter than four minutes. The third thing you notice is that I'm
not wearing a shirt and I'm looking really sexy in these tight jeans. The
fourth thing you notice is that the songs aren't hardcore. They center
around the same "chord sequences designed to make you feel uncomfortable"
style as the last record, but they're midtempo with lots more changes in the
songs and a mix that accentuates the bass guitar as much as the regular
guitars. The singer dudes are still just screaming angrily, but the music
is always interesting even when upsetting. But Neurosis aren't here to make
you feel good about yourself. That's not the point! Let's examine a few
lyrics, aye? That paragraph was getting a bit long. Here are some
sample lyrics: "Toiling our lives away, We learn to accept the petty
rewards that we get from the feudal system of our modern day
wage-slavery/Setting goals for ourselves that cannot be met through this
system of self-perpetuating misery." So yeah, it's a socially conscious
thing, with most of the lyrics focusing around how peoples' conformist
decisions lead to their ultimate unhappiness and denial that they are
unsatisfied. Here's some more: "Factory/Tied to a cage to slave my life
away/Openness makes me an easy prey/I buy the drugs to kill the pain/That
this shit causes in my brain." Eeeee. So yeah. Neurosis are unhappy and
they suspect that you are too. And if you aren't, they're here to help you
get that way! The mix is awfully open, keeping the music from being as
heavy and disturbing as it could be. But that's probably for the best, for
even when there's something close to an uplifting melody (the beginning of
"Blisters," for example), the lyrics inevitably bring you back to the
reality of pessimism. The band is good. Definitely good. They create
songs that sound unlike anything you've ever heard -- a kind of cross
between death metal, goth, industrial and hardcore. But you may want to
avoid them if you're already unhappy - they kinda make you want to blow your
fucking head off.
Much heavier than the last two. Guitars pumped up
REALLY loud. Drumbeats slowed way down. Samples and soundbites added.
Much more texture to the heavy meddle, including violins, acoustic guitars
and flutes. Melodies are more like melodies now instead of just chord
sequences -- lots of arpeggiation and instrumental interplay. Dynamics =
lots of quiet-to-loud like everybody attributes to the Pixies for a reason
that is still unclear to me, it being an obvious element of rock music since
it began (haven't these people ever heard the Bee Gees' b-side "Close
Another Door"? Sheesh! Get with it, people!). Punishing but also enjoyably
melancholy during the non-loud parts -- the first two songs in particular
have metabolically astringent parts revolving around guitar harmonics.
There are definitely a few too many moments of "distorted guitar chords
going up one step, then back down in an irritating, predictable manner," but
it never lasts long and it always contrasts well with the neat "other parts"
of the songs. But you have to really LISTEN. If you treat it like
background music while you're reading or giving birth to a baby, it will
seem just like monolithic heavy metal noise with a guy screaming over it.
However, pay close attention to the entire record and you may soon find
yourself asking that musical question, "Why didn't I hit 'pause' instead of
sitting here and crapping in my pants half an hour ago?"
Ratings:
Pain of Mind - 7
(a week later)
"the most Neurosis album I heard?" Sorry folks, I meant the FIRST Neurosis album I heard. Someone must've slipped the NyQuil in my drink or something. Hate when that happens... Still, it is a very very Neurosis album, isn't it?
My introduction to Neurosis came via A Sun that Never Sets, which left me
baffled and unimpressed. However never being one to be put off in my quest
for a morose listening experience I went out and bought Through Silver in
Blood...which is better, but still difficult for me to get into. This
however I genuinely enjoy! I apppreciate the subtle complexity that Neurosis
employ on the later albums I've heard (all but Times of Grace and The Eye of
Every Storm-which I shall be purchasing in about 40minutes) but it seems to
me like they moved away from the really compelling melodies which this album
has in excess. Hats of to the boys, because they are consistently
challenging and inteligent, but if you want a really heavy album that is
complex, inteligent, dark AND enjoyable then get Souls at Zero, because its
the business!!
Oops, lets pretend I never used the word "challenging" eh. Forget that and
try "Dense" instead and we'll say no more about it.
This one is perfect! Amazing how they transformed from Word As Law into THIS!
The songs are very brutal, but still catchy in a way. And it's so diverse. Everything that is cool about Neurosis is found here and they never fall into the traps of making songs too long, repeating parts too often or being too predictable. The singers occasionally sound like demons from hell and the rest of the record they are screaming in pain and anger. Great stuff.
Neurosis have created a very unique sound and this is their best example of it. If you're into heavy music, buy this one today!
Starts off with two unpleasantly oppressive
two-chord metal screamers and ends with 20 excruciating minutes of tribal
drumming. But the rest is great! The title track in particular is so
intricately textured, exquisitely arranged and expertly performed that it
makes most bands look shitty, which of course they aren't. Most bands are
great. Especially the ones you've never heard of. Those groups are really
phenomenal. This album is similar to the last one, but with the
additions of some neat horn-type instruments and piano tinklings for even
more morose philanthropy. Honestly, it's hard to consider a group this
smart "depressing" if you enjoy listening to intelligent heavy music (I'm
not going to use the word "challenging" because it's a critics' buzzword.
Music isn't a brain teaser -- you either enjoy hearing it or you don't).
Except "Cleanse," of course - the 20 minutes of tribal drumming will either
make you dance up and down like an African Bushfellow or slice out your
eardrums with a pinking shear, depending on whether or not you're into
shucking fit like that.
More cerebral caustic sounds from the wonderful
and frightening world of Neurosis. This CD is so heavy, it actually gave me
a nosebleed this morning! And I wasn't even sitting that high up in my home
auditorium. Just sitting up there smoking a weed, waiting for the t-shirt
guy to come by. The sound here is pretty much the same as on the last one -
very interestingly rhythmic (tribal tap-a-tappida-tappida-tap-a instead of
basic rock boomp-chick a lot of the time), guy screaming, heavy guitars and
interesting little mood enhancements like somber piano and even a weird
wildass bagpipe in one song that sounded so beautifully out of place, I
thought it was coming from outside my window! But I checked and Old Man
O'McGalligan was just resting on my perch eating a potato, so I knew it was
coming from the CD. One thing that you need to know about Neurosis is as
follows: They craft their songs too intelligently for you to hate them, but
the music is so purposely abrasive and pushbackening that it's hard for me
to love them. A lot of people do though, so don't be thinking that they're
nothing but an auto wreck on the side of the musical highway to be glared at
briefly and forgotten as you move on to the Ferraris of Bad Religion and
Black Oak Arkansas. No sir, Neurosis are the real deal. A heavy metal band
with the smarts of an Einstein. No no, not Albert. But certainly some guy
whose last name is Einstein.
Seems to be more quiet passages on this one, with
more cool strings and bagpipes giving it that black metal feel. One song
("Away") even features quiet music and a guy SINGING instead of yelling!!!
It's as if you've slipped in the wrong CD and are enjoying a Nick Cave album
of songs for you! Where else to say hmm. Wellz, as always, the music is
depressing as shit and LOUD to play distorted vroom guitars and guy yell.
Also seems as if they spent less time on arrangements this time around than
they usually do, with bland metal crap like "End Of The Harvest" just
blasting you in the head for no reason where songs on past albums would have
impressed you at the same time. I'm not knocking it all though, understand.
It's the most diverse Neurosis CD yet - you never quite know what's going to
happen next (though you'd best suspect it will likely be loud) and lots of
times it's really enjoyable shiite muslim. Which reminds me -- these last
few albums have been different lyrically than the early stuff. Not that I
know what any of the lyrics are, but with song titles like "The Road To
Sovereignty" and "Enclosure In Flame," I just feel like they're going for
something a bit more fantastical or mystical or some crap. I could be wrong
though - what do I know about partying? Or anything else? By your way,
Neurosis has a side project called Tribes Of Neurot that concentrates, so
I'm told, on tribal rhythms. I haven't bought their CDs. Have you? If so,
let us know what they're like! Hurry! Don't let us down, you piles of
fig! One other thing - last night my fiancee dreamed that Hollywood was
making a movie about The Who, starring Metallica as The Who. With those old
mod '60s haircuts and stuff. Playing Who songs in Metallica fashion. Can
you imagine???? I just dreamt about a motel with lots of rats in it!
Interesting symmetry with reality, seeing as how my puppy dog Henry dove
under a bench this morning and came out chewing on a rat carcass. As Ozzy
Osbourne might say, "Ablllllllllskkk."
Get to find the site again Mark.
You know what I'd love to see in a horror movie? A scene where the protagonist is alone in a room and suddenly a dark figure darts quickly across the screen. Why oh why can't any of today's top horror movie directors include a scene where the protagonist is walking around in a dark room, perhaps having heard a noise there, and suddenly a dark figure -- say, a ghost or axe murderer - suddenly darts quickly from one side of the screen to the other? I don't care whether the protagonist sees it or not; all that matters is that I, the viewer, see it. Who do I have to blow to get this scene included in a movie? Why, you'd think after all these years of making horror movies, somebody would've thought to include a scene where a dark figure darts quickly across the screen, but nope! Apparently the world's horror movie directors feel that a darkened figure would have no reason to dart across the screen when it could just as easily head directly towards the protagonist. I call bullshit! Let's say you're hiding in your basement and somebody comes down the steps. Do you run right at them? HELL NO! You dart across the screen! But today's Filmmaker's Guild is just too interested in the fantastical to include my 'slice of realism' in their horror films.
And that's exactly how I feel about Sovereign, a 32-minute, 4-song hunk of loud, heavy, slow, dramatic, growly doom metal engineered by Steve Albini. Whether you call it a long EP or short LP, 32 minutes is a perfect length to get your fill but not overkill on Neurosis's blistering cement truck of Swansy depression, Melvinsy shudder-sludge, queasy chord changes, hypnotic feedback drones, thudding bass lines, powerfuckenhouse drumming, and full-band explosions of metallic headbanging ROOOOAARRR!!! And then some horns or something.
Neurosis pounds and rages, often with sound effects or spoken samples. They're a significantly better band than Tool. I urge you to drown your miseries in their jaunty swimming pool of hopelessness.
I'm into making lists lately. I figure lists are as good as anything else, especially since I haven't had a drop of alcohol in over three months and thus don't have any hilarious binge drinking stories for you. So here's a list of song titles I think Neurosis should use in future projects. Please pass these along to Steve Von Till:
"A Sun Storm That Rises Of Fire"
Good old lists. Isn't it awesome how they lean to one side?
Oh I got a neurosis. I got a fluffin neurosis alright. You wanna hear about MY neurosis?
Well, how's this for taxi cabs on a rainy day -- I have an overwhelming anxious fear that
this band will never again release an INTELLIGENT, INTERESTING ALBUM!!!! What are the sons
of a bean doing with all their free time? Jumping rope with underprivileged children?
This is just a bunch of overdramatic, ridiculously slow heavy metal! No interesting
rhythmic stuff. No cool harmonics. Very few interesting riffs. And worst of all, no
BRAINS. Is this really the kind of music they want to be making? They've been
milking this "slow heavy" thing for a decade now and it's not getting any more interesting.
Do all five of these musicians honestly wake up in the morning and think to themselves,
"Gee! I'm in the mood to play some slow depressing music!" or are they just doing this
because they feel they have to in order to keep their fanbase satisfied? I mean,
even the Swans progressed over time; Neurosis seems to be regressing something fierce.
There is ONE very interesting thing about this CD and that is why its grade made it up to a
6 -- they have this guy named Noah Landis in the band now (for all I know, he may have been
on their last five albums too; I would be a fool to actually do research before writing my
review) who is credited for "Keyboards, samples, sound manipulation." This man (I ASSUME
it's this man anyway) has come up with some of the creepiest, most interesting eerie wind
noises I've ever heard. Like backwards wind through different sized tunnels or something -
there's just this really skin-crawlingly dark spooky noise spread throughout the album --
especially in the track "Watchfire," which I consider to be the smartest song on the album.
The only other tracks I would praise left and right are "From The Hill," a slow loud
trudging orchestral number with an intriguing and emotional chord sequence, and "Resound,"
which is a short instrumental revolving around a scary speed-manipulated bell. Kinda like
"Hells Bells" but without the scholarly line "I got my bell, I'm gonna take you to Hell."
So thank you Noah Landis. As for the rest of the band - TRY THE TINIEST BIT TO COME UP
WITH SOMETHING NEW. Especially the guitarist, who does WAY too much of the old "chord goes
up, chord goes down" thing for my personal American tastes. Darn son of a bean.
Flob you, you flammy son of a booster! I'll shove my corncobdiddlydoo up your
astropop!
Well I have to say after listening to Neurosis's "Times of Grace" I wanted to hear more of their stuff. I had already heard a bunch of their singles off of ASTNS before any other album, so I decided to go with this album.
First I would like to say, I did enjoy the album. The album takes you onto a world on the brink of its end. Much like the epic overture that was "2001: A Space Odyssey," this album to me sounds just as equal. The album storms through your speakers like the Bataan Death March, giving you front row for the Apocalypse. Scott Kelly's voice is harsh and unforgiving, while Steve Von Till is that of the Black Plague lullaby, as Dave Edwardson voice screams war against the weak. Above all my favorite part of the album would have to be the ending song, "Stones From the Sky." It was that world's final moment and you heard it on tape along as felt it.
On the other hand, the biggest drawback for this album is its pace. Think of it as a slow gas pump; you want to listen to it, but you don't know if you have the time to do so. You enjoy the view, but after a while you start thinking, "Man, I need to be hitting the road soon. I wonder what's taking so long." Lyrics, from what you can make out, are not that clear as to what they want you to intake. Though they're not as bad as Cedric Bixler-Zavala's lyrics, they are almost as bad.
Over all, this was a good album, not great, but good nonetheless. If my voice counted, I would have given ASTNS an 8 out of 10, but hey they only judge can be you the reader.
PS: If you need LSD or any other kind of drug to enjoy an album, but not when you're sober, then that's not a very good album now is it.
In a kind-hearted effort to give Steve Von Till's scream a well-deserved day off, Neurosis decided to do one of those fancy "tapes recorded through the mail" deals with former Swans female chartreuse Jar Jar Binks. In celebration, I wrote a song about it:
Jar Jar Binks was a hell of a Sphinx
A killer cat who would tell you a riddle Jar Jar Binks was a hell of a Sphinx
Way back in the days of mythology Jar Jar Binks was a hell of a Sphinx
If you're up to date on your Edith Hamilton Jar Jar Binks was a hell of a Sphinx
Jar Jar Binks didn't need no shitter Jar Jar Binks was a hell of a Sphinx
You wouldn't be worried 'bout no cenataur
Jar Jar Binks was a hell of a Sphinx
Everyone knows that a penis stinks Jar Jar Binks was a hell of a Sphinx Jar Jar Binks was a hell of a Sphinx Jar Jar Binks was a hell of a Sphinx Jar Jar Binks was a hell of a Sphinx (fade out)
The bottom line here is that Neurosis have not at all stuck to their old loud annoying slow metal style, instead learning a Swans lesson or two about the unlikely success of something called "dynamics." Granted, these "dynamics" have resulted in a CD that you can't listen to during the summer because either your air conditioner will drown out all the quiet parts or you'll unsuspectingly turn the volume way way up and have your speakers destroyed when the loud parts come in. Interestingly, not even these loud parts are of the brutal sort preferred by a younger Neurosis; mainly it's just the difference between a nail-biting, near-silent wisp of wind and distorted fear, and the same plus a distorted guitar. However, what it really sounds like more than anything to me personally is a whole bunch of incomplete, disturbing musical statements full of coffin-scratching noises of non-humanity. The guitar "lines" are generally made up of two or three echoing minor-key notes, the big gigantic beats are sub-slow and pumped up far past the distortion point, and Jarboe alternates between lost little girl singing, angry Liz Phair screaming and unsettling Southernly accented speech -- but that's not what you'll notice most. The winner of that sweepstakes is the horrifying collection of just completely fucked up, unrecognizable thumping, staticy and windy noises riding atop nearly every song on here. Take "Receive," for example. What the hell is that thumping noise? The heartbeat of a dying man? Or "Seizure"! Am I a member of Unsane or is that entire rhythm track built out of the looped static from the end of an old record album? If I am to complain, it is due to the dull repetition of some of the tracks. Nobody needs to hear the phrase "I try to remember/Everything that's lost" repeated over and over and over for 11 minutes, nor do they need to hear Jarboe SCREAMING "Define Me Defy me Defile me" 609 times in a row. And don't even get me STARTED about the "Jar Jar Binks was a hell of a Sphinx" song. Lyrically, Jarboe is as full of overwrought sadness as she has always been (see her daily journal on www.thelivingjarboe.com for an indication of what a "fun gal" she must be). However, the track "His Last Words" is as stunning and harrowing a description of paternal passing as Unrest's "June": "When you're 'high'/If you could see what I see/In your unfocused empty child-like eyes/You'd see my father's blue stare/And the horror/Of the loss of language of an educated man/He recited poems and Shakespeare/Knew the name of every tree in Latin memory/The unjust cruel sentencing of bewilderment/And the dying of the brain/His last words to me from surgery/His last words: 'burning burning.'" YIKES! I'm getting chill bumps on my goose! So did Neurosis learn a non-metal lesson from their little long-distance experiment with the feminine wiles of Jarhead? Scroll downwards for recognition!
Yeah, they did. They learned to stop blasting their loud screaming heavy metal nonsense. That's a game for children, like rules are. Do you follow rules because they are rules? That's a child's mentality. Follow an adult morality. Unless you're a murderous psychopath in life. So let's talk about this new Neurosis album and immediately define it as one that differs quite dramatically from the pre-Jarboe releases. You see -- it's not loud! In fact, it's so fugwing quiet, I have to keep turning the fugwing thing up to hear it over the ice radiator! But I have to keep the ice radiator flowing - it's mid-July and my eyeballs are sweaty. But still, that's the nature of this Y2K-plus era Neurosis. Quiet Slint-like post-rock depression/sorrow/longing dual-guitar lines plinker and arpedge along until some unspecified breaking point occurs, at which point everyone (driven by the drummer) starts hitting their strings harder. But it's not metal at all. It's more like late-period Swans -- just a long recording of confusion, loss, angst and hopelessness, higlighted by brief moments of incredible beauty. As a tribute to just one of many asinine comments I made during a job interview today, I'm going to start a new paragraph here. I don't even want to go into the asinine comment - let's just pretend I've never applied for a job and I'm still like six. Neurossiisis's guitar tones are heartsqueezingly chiming and harrowingly delicate on these tracks, and the dual-guitar-and-bass interplay is kept to a pleasing maximum during the finest tracks ("Burn," "No River To Take Me Home" and "Left To Wander"). Also, Steve Von Till's voice sounds terrific; rather than screaming, he is shaking and singing in a secretive, untrusting quaver similar to that of Whatsisname Fellow from Thin White Rope. Guy Kyser? Is he the singer? I'll be good and goddamned if I'm going to spend 15 minutes trying to find the answer on the "All New! Improved! Slow!" All Music Shit Guide Of Assholes. Unlike an album with one chord on it, these eight songs develop over time, bringing in different guitar lines, waves of strange noise (don't fail to not miss the booming thunderstorm/explosion noise that makes up part of the rhythmic track in "Burn"!) and more slow tempos than you can shake my dick at. But please try anyway! Best, I wrote something in my notes, but I can't read all of it. It says something like "SUDNY meets SWANS." Does that mean anything to you? That first word might actually be "SLINT," but it sure doesn't look like "SLINT." What could "SUDNY" be? Ah! I've got it. The Special Underwear Department of New York.
The only problem with this CD as I see it as a highly-nonpaid critic and argumentator is that the songs go on forever, and some of them just aren't complex or memorable enough to deserve their ridiculous lengths. Take the 12-minute title track for example. It basically has two goddamned chords. Sure, they're presented in different ways, with different noises, blurbs, boops and clankles, but it's still two chords over and over and over again. I understand that bands like Neurosis consider repetition to be a "tool" towards achieving some punishing goal, but I don't go to Ace Hardware to buy my music and not a single nail in my home was hammered in by a song that doesn't go anywhere. Except for the guest bedroom, which was built by "American Pie" while I was at the nursery taking a shit. But I don't actually consider the guest bedroom a PART of my home, any more than I consider a guest a PART of my life, so as Jesse Jackson might say, "The question is moot." To sum up: Excruciatingly slow and still as hard on the brain as ever, but only through endless repetition of cry-worthy melody (not through blasting your head with distorted smash-em-up). Fans of the Post-Rock genre - THIS is the Neurosis album for you! Fans of the Poster-Children - Did it take you five billion years to finally be able to see the artwork on the cover of Tool Of The Man? It did me indeed. I had much better luck with Dave Matthews' Remember Two Things (it's a hand giving the peace sign! But see, that's the wonder of Magic Eye artwork, and the reason that in twenty years, the entire Metropolitan Museum of Art will be full of nothing but it. It's because, in touching us to view the world around us in a completely different way in order to see "the whole picture" (as it were), the artists of the Magic Eye are at the same time completely blinding us. We won't be able to see any other kind of art in 20 years because our eyes will permanently be crossed from looking at so many fucking Magic Fucking Eye Fucking pieces of Say, did somebody mention "Eye Fucking"? Well, you're in luck because I just launched a brand new magazine! Check your local adult bookstore soon for Mark Prindle's "Eyeballin'"!
Oh, it's a beautiful sunny day!
(*listens to first five minutes of new Neurosis CD*)
(*murders self, and God*)
Okay, forget that "they're quiet now" summation of the last album. America's goodest-time rock 'n' rollers are back with another cheerful collection of LOUD AS SHIT, slow, heavy, screamy, eerie, depressing, melodramatic songs that drag on forever (7 of the 10 songs are over 7 minutes long!). But I must tell you: I realize a '7' doesn't seem like that high a grade, but when this band is "ON" - as they often are on this release - they are amazing. Not only are they tonal geniuses whose mixture of heavy distorted guitars and disturbing electronic/ambient noises will keep your ear cocked to the speakers at all times; their punishing, hopeless riffs are unique, memorable and even catchy.
"Catchy? Neurosis? Are you high on airplane paste?" That's you asking that.
Try the driving bendy-upwards-to-down-note passage that drives the first half of "Fear And Sickness" (before it turns into piercing high-end torture). Or the emo I SWEAR TO GOD IT'S FUCKING EMO!!! first half of "To The Wind" (before it turns into Black Sabbath). Or the hopeful but anxious intro riff to "Water Is Not Enough" (before it turns into swarming cicadas). These parts are wonderfully melodic! Not happy, mind you, but certainly worthy of getting stuck in your head.
Still, as you might gather from that last paragraph's parenthetical phrases, 'catchiness' isn't exactly foremost in the band members' minds. They're more concerned with making you feel something -- you know what just occurred to me? In mid-sentence there? At their best, Neurosis is kinda like the thinking man's Tool. They use the same epic song lengths, dark mood and pained melodrama, but their songs are a million times more melodically interesting, their loud-to-quiet dynamics actually make logical sense, and most importantly, the drummer doesn't get a 5-minute bongo solo in the middle of every song. Neurosis is slow as shit though, and that's a hard hurdle to cross I'll admit. Okay - how about the thinking man's Type O Negative then?
Although every song is long, they are by no means repetitive. Most come with several different parts, gunning the ramut from headsmashing trudge metal to beautifully hopeless guitar/keyboard interplay to ominous electronic bedding to purposely ugly blasts of boring, off-putting guitar racket. The one exception (aside from two brief tone poems) is "At The End Of The Road," an 8 and a half minute bile movement that may be the slowest 'slow builder' I have ever heard outside of Joe Preston's solo EP. It takes for fucking EVER to get where it's going -- which is nowhere at all!!!
So why only a 7, you've got to be wondering after all this time. Well, mainly due to those 'purposely ugly blasts of boring, off-putting guitar racket' I mentioned above. I love Neurosis when they're being purposely threatening or depressed or foreboding, but my pleasure sockets don't expel helium upon encountering yucky, boring, pissy-breathed guitar parts of unpleasantness. Take "Distill (Watching The Swarm)" for example. That entire song represents everything I hate about Neurosis. Its pounding, repetitive, hookless dissonance creates a mood that is neither sad nor angry (let alone suicidal or apocalyptic), but simply irritating. And I don't know about you, but I find irritating things annoying. Take irritable bowel syndrome, for example. I don't mean to be contrary, but I in all honesty find it annoying when I expel gallon after gallon of brown stinky liquid poop all over an entire busload of commuters. And I can't imagine it's any big deal to them, but it is to me.
I haven't made up any jokes in a long time, and I think the world is a little less happy for it, so let's give it a try:
How many members of Neurosis does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Why did the member of Neurosis cross the road?
Knock knock
What do you get when you cross Halle Barry with Neurosis?
What did Bruce Springsteen say when he met Neurosis after his 2002 gig at a local chili stand?
What does Neurosis have in common with the Olsen Twins?
Okay, enough humor. Let's get back to the somber business of reviewing an album.
.
.
.
.
DEATH.
This is my favorite metal album of the year next to Sigh's Hangman's Hymn and Alcest - Souvenirs d'un Auntre Monde or something french. Fuck those French black metallers anyway. They don't have freedom.
It's funny that I listen to black metal, me being black and all.
Yea but this was a big breath of fresh Neurosis air to me. Completely new atmosphere and feeling I get when I hear this. Fucking I love it, it has those clever parts that make you go 'oh' its pounding at times, melodic, and experimental.
The guitar racket is in fact annoying, I can agree with that, at first I was digging it because I like noise and music experimentation but it's too long.
It's crazy how influential Neurosis are now; I was watching this video about UGZ Speed Trials Grindcore festival thing and there were alot of Neurosis shirts. FOR GRINDCORE! But this isn't it, I discovered (they weren't that good) two newish bands that are influenced by Neurosis, 100 Suns who are like black metal influenced, and Middian. Both of these bands owe their existence to Neurosis, not to mention bands like ISIS, Rosetta, Cult of Luna, Pelican, and probably the best mainstream metal band Mastodon at some point were Neurosis worship.
Well to be fair, the Melvins started it all.
Ey up lad!
The Guys Who Run Around The Bases
The People Who Play Baseball
The Guy Who Cleans The Bathroom, And His Team
The Transparent Sox
The People With Broken Spines
The Big Fucken Losers
The Smallpox Blankets
"Spit," The Team
The Sun Was In My Eyes
The Balkin' Overthrows
The Team That Will Lose Unless You walk Every Single Batter
The Mustache Gang
The Human League of Baseball
The "Weird York" Yankeevics
This is the most Neurosis album i heard, just before Through Silver in Blood came out. I'd say this and Through Silver in Blood are my favorites, though all the albums have their moments. Definitely one of my top 10 favorite bands ever. As far doom/grind/noisecore goes, Neurosis and Godflesh are the gods.
The Word as Law - 7.5
Souls at Zero - 9
Enemy of the Sun - 8.5
Through Silver in Blood - 9.5
Times of Grace - 8.5
Sun that Never Sets - 8
Yes this is a very very Neurosis album and I absolutely love it! The
interplay and melodies that run though this are amazing, especially on the
title track with the creepy piano refrain that has layers of equally
unsettling guitar running over and through. Chronology for Survival is
awesome and like nothing else I've ever heard.
10! 10! 10!
Hey now, "Lost" and "Raze the Stray" are two of my favorite tracks on this album. Shame on you! Oppressive music is GOOOOOOOD.
My first exposure to Neurosis was on the Ozzfest video and CD. I loved 'Locust Star' Soon after I heard 'Through Silver in Blood'. I think both this
album and 'Enemy of the Sun' are incredible. The 'Locust Star' EP is also great, showing both sides of the band, Neurosis and their ambient
counterpart, Tribes of the Neurot.
Definitely Neurosis' masterpiece, so far anyway. Everything here kills, from the brutal opening of the 12 minute title track through the climax of "Enclosure in Flame." Maybe it is a little drawn out in a couple parts, but still a near-perfect noise classic. 9.5/10
this is my favorite album by neurosis so far. (didnt listen to all of them yet) once you get used to the singing/screaming song the songs offer so much. they ARE melodic, though ugly in a certain way. lots of them are slow to midtempo but still very energetic. the screaming sounds like the guys are constantly suffering throughout the album. very tense and LOUD. one of the best and most idiosyncratic thing about this band is the sound/keyboard guy. those samples are really creepy...great stuff!
Supposedly one of Tribes of Neurot's albums, "Grace", is meant to be
played simultaneously with this CD, making it a really nice experience!
Tribes is an musical entity completely opposite of Neurosis.It is
ambient noise soundscapes that captivate and intrance.You need to get
some.I suggest you get Tribes of Neurot and the Walking Timebombs Static
Migation. And then get Tribes 60 degrees cd
You really do need to listen to Times of Grace along with Grace, as Enfermo@rocketmail suggests. I really adds to the listening experience.
Plus, I think it's a really original idea to have two albums which can be listened to alone, or which can be combined for a really tripped-out
experience.
This was a good album and a good listener. I remember just listening to it all the way and thinking it's not that bad. Though at times, you feel as though you want them to speed it up just alittle, or move on to another chord, while they just continue on. It's still a good listen for those rainy days, when you're trapped in the house with nothing but knivies and a really bad comic who tells nothing but knot-knot jokes.
"Flame The Ocean And Flood The Light"
"Heart Murmur"
"Receive, Cleanse, Purify, Erase, Erode, Cringe & Exist (Also, Resound) (If You Have Time, I Mean)"
"Canker Sore"
"Do You Have Any Hi-C? (Water Is Not Enough, Pt. II)"
"I'm So Sad In The United States"
"Jiminy Cricket? Yeah, Right. That Guy Sucks!"
"I Wish My Socks Had Bright Colorful Stripes On Them"
"Get That Goat Cheese Off My Pillowcase! (I Don't Want My Hair To Smell Like Fecal Matter)"
what the hell are you thinking talking all that shit about A Sun That Never
Sets? the first time i heard that album i was on LSD, and ever since then it
remains one of the best cds i've ever heard. when you're in a vulnerable
state like that, this cd takes you away, it rips you apart while at the same
time giving you the most beautiful and wonderful sensation you've ever felt.
everyone in the room felt it. upon later discussion we decided it was like a
musical orgasm. there are parts of the music that affect your subconscious,
manipulating your feelings. you don't realize it sober but trippin you can
hear another even more complex part in the music, and you can see it too.
take acid and listen to it, man, you'll change your mind.
Seeing as I'm not a junkie loser, let me offer a lucid opinion on this
album. First of all, terrible terrible cover - remember kids, computer art
is rubbish. The first Neurosis album I bought, Through Silver In Blood, was
on a whim based on the cool cover. The music itself was nothing like I had
heard before - really mind-opening; kind of apocalyptic but strangely
cathartic. This album, in comparison, is really bleak and harsh. The
calm/heavy approach that worked so well on TSIB is now painfully blatant and
thus, makes you cringe on first listen. It also lacks coherence and while
the trademark end-of-the-world vibe is ever-present, the songs seem to stand
separate from each other. Apart from the frighteningly Danzig-esque Falling
Unknown, the singing is too croaky, often going nowhere at all. There are a
few parts, mostly when it slows down, that show their talent in sound
layering but it's not enough. I can't even say, 'well at least the cover is
cool.'
this album is awful. almost as bad as scott kelly's solo cd. *vomit*
like mark said, the 'chord goes up, chord goes down' 'slow heavy' thing has
gotten extremely old. not to mention whoever is singing just isn't a
wonderful vocalist when he isn't screaming.
it's sad that it takes acid to make this album interesting. i hope neurosis
breaks up now.
neurosis doesnt suck. thats one bad cd out of eight. its noit even that bad,
its just that they sing too much otherwise its good. "chord goes up, chord
goes down?" dont think so dumb ass..... fuck you neurosis wont break up.
I´ve heard the sun tha never set, it feels like the band is realy focus on what they want, i realy like this album. i have heard through silver in blood and is extremelly interesting, but it´s to hard to find some material of this guys here, in argentina. I´m in Cordoba, see if you can do somethimg about it. i want ton hear more, here is a new fan, good luck and cheers for these album
Taking acid does not make you a junkie loser.
Hello Mark again.
And a hell of a Sphinx was that Jar Jar Binks
That's Jar Jar Binks! Playin' a fiddle
And a hell of a Sphinx was that Jar Jar Binks
Jar Jar Binks would make you pay a fee
And a hell of a Sphinx was that Jar Jar Binks
You'll know Jar Jar Binks was a Sphinx, not a catamaran
And a hell of a Sphinx was that Jar Jar Binks
He was a Sphinx! He used kitty litter!
And a hell of a Sphinx was that Jar Jar Binks
When Jar Jar Binks would come along in his car
And a hell of a Sphinx was that Jar Jar Binks
But not half as bad as that Jar Jar Binks!
And a hell of a Sphinx was that Jar Jar Binks
And a hell of a Sphinx was that Jar Jar Binks
And a hell of a Sphinx was that Jar Jar Binks
And a hell of a Sphinx was that Jar Jar Binks
Steven Tyler
Vomitous Elderly Gross Man
this one is taking a little longer to get into than
previous Neurosis albums, it looks to me like they're
getting more difficult with each album. Sounds kinda
like a mixture between the last two, if that makes
sense. Hey, I think i'm starting to like it more and
more each time I listen to it... 8/10.
In every wonderful way!
The trees are singing and the aeroplanes are winging
And the sun is shining oh so gay!
It's a beautiful sunny day!
Only one, but it takes him like half an hour
To scream at a chicken
Who's there?
A member of Neurosis
A member of Neurosis who?
No no, I said "a member of your own Sis." I'm your sister's penis!
Halitosis!
(if you perform cunnilungus on Halle Barry before crossing her with Neurosis)
Hey, I don't like that Fart Review that you've just 'given to The Rising.'
Six pairs of sweaty, hairy balls!
I have to give this a 9/10
i saw neurosis live yesterday in berlin and i was blown away. i rarely listen to this kind of music, but i always thought neurosis where interesting. man you have to see them live to get the full experience. now i listen to the whole thing again and it makes total sense. you see, when you play this stuff loud and live you never get tired of the repetitions, you never get tired of the heaviness, the ugliness, its just fascinating. this sound is one brutal machine. great great stuff. also scott kelley hit the microphone so hard with his forehead he was bleeding heavily throughout the last two songs (probably) without even noticing. 'given to the rising' is a good album by the way.
Feeling a little TOO happy? Then click here to buy some Neurosis CDs!