NEUROSIS
An Undying Love For A Burning World
Neurot Recordings

Metal’s evolution has branched off in so many directions over the decades and while its many branches over recent years can hardly support any weight, the roots of this giant tree will forever remain strong. New bands recycling the sounds created ages ago as a particular style gets “popular” again as newbs to Metal don’t know yet where particular sounds originated from, it is because the many originators and veterans of said sound are thankfully still around to enlighten those new young minds. While the term “avant-garde” largely blankets many forms of Art, in music we’ve had so many icons outside of Metal that actually influenced many Metal bands. To my point, there are bands that are foundation and essential to the evolution of Metal and one such band hails from Oakland, California and that band is NEUROSIS. A far cry from their crust-punk debut with 1987’s “Pain Of Mind”, it wasn’t until 1992’s “Souls At Zero” that the inevitable cocoon would hatch and would reveal what we NEUROSIS would be, Avant-Garde Metal at its finest.

With NEUROSIS, you know what you are getting yet at the same same time, there is that element of surprise because you have to ask yourself how is it possible to out-do themselves once again and they’ve done exactly that with a new release “An Undying Love For A Burning World”. A NEUROSIS record is a journey of self-reflection that you can only do so much to prepare for. The emotion on this audio journey you are about to take, awareness of everything around you, and whether you took mushrooms or not, buckle-in on a no-turning-back ride as you get lost in the amazing atmosphere they create on this record. Now sure, at face value you can take this piece of art and appreciate its beautiful use of time and space and outstanding production done by Scott Evans at Studio Litho (Seattle, WA) and Antisleep Audio (Oakland),with additional help from Randall Dunn and Matthew Barnhart. But when you let it take a hold of you, that’s when the real understanding sets in. While too many bands water down their sound and call it “evolving”, what NEUROSIS has done over the past 3 decades, this deep and organic sound they created has continuously pushed the boundaries.

Immediately starting off the record with impactful words on ‘We Are Torn Wide Open’, things for those people in the back to hear, a reflection of what many, but not enough, are aware of as the world of today seems to tighten its grip around our neck. Then ‘Mirror Deep’ pushes the pace and definitely gets those neck muscles moving again. The somber sound of ‘First Red Rays’ takes me back to “Enemy Of The Sun” (1993). It’s on the song ‘Seething and Scattered’ that you hear the chaos and talents of the whole band come together, an excellent performance and one of my favorite tracks, and only to follow it up with ‘Untethered’ reminding you that the trip is not over and you’re just halfway there. Some sign of serenity with ‘In The Waiting Hours’ but the climax awaits with ‘Last Light’, another favorite track of mine whose weight blankets you, making it hard to distinguish if it’s comforting or suffocating you as its haunting sound takes your last breath away.

Sucked in by Steve Von Till’s vocal performance, the struggle (in style, note effort) speaks to you and for you. The 8 song epic runs just over an hour with a couple of songs over 8 minutes, 1 over 10 minutes and the closer at over 15 minutes.

Alongside the amazingly talented line-up made up of Steve Von Till (vocalist/guitarist), Jason Roeder (drummer), Dave Edwardson (bassist), and Noah Landis (keys) – they are now joined by ISIS guitarist/vocalist Aaron Turner who had a great hand in creating this phenomenal piece of work as well as contributing on some of the visuals for the record that was released (and totally worth mentioning) without any warning or advanced press ahead of the album, through their own label NEUROT RECORDINGS and since then has received huge praise and much-deserved response from many music news outlets.

As NEUROSIS states on Aaron joining, “His energy matches ours perfectly. It’s as if he was always meant to be there.” Aaron reciprocates with “…the singular sound and spirit embodied by Neurosis continues to speak to the depths of my being. … the necessity of upholding creative integrity and camaraderie above all else.” So needless to say this formula works at its highest potential on “An Undying Love For A Burning World”

To celebrate the success of the new record with their first show in seven years, NEUROSIS will perform at the FIRE IN THE MOUNTAINS festival happening on July 23rd through the 26th, taking place on the traditional lands of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana by the non-profit FIREKEEPER ALLIANCE which spreads awareness on reducing youth suicide in Indian Country.

Declaring that they never broke up, perhaps the times weren’t deserving of a new NEUROSIS record, so as necessity set in due to all the turmoil with small dashes of celebration here and there, helped influence this new record. After all, true Art is a reflection of the times and only bands with music worth a damn realize this isn’t a utopia of painted rainbows like the pop world wants you to believe. The re-awakening has to happen and this record is part of that soundtrack.

5.0 Out Of 5.0