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Once a heavily ritualistic, primal gargantuan of a band, Neurosis made the most of their tendencies towards hypnosis in their heyday. Perusing their back catalogue, you can find no shortage of slow-moving dread to ascend to. Given the time period in which they landed, one can consider them early pioneers of subgenres such as atmospheric sludge metal, as well as post-metal. Their music would be followed by another decade or so of like-minded brethren, namely acts like Isis and Cult of Luna. This ground-swell of ambitious doomers were laying the foundations for a style not too often discussed or explored by the broader music public. Nevertheless, it is a type of music that is perfect for deeper exploration. It encourages meditation through repetitions of key riff ideas, expounding upon these base elements with additional, subtle guitar and even synth work. It usually comes bursting out of the blocks, and achieves climax by forcing familiarity.
Neurosis have nailed an appropriately ethereal note this time around. I mentioned earlier that a primary player within the world of atmosludge and post-metal is a band called Isis. The timely recruitment of key member Aaron Turner for this latest album is maybe the most enlightening revelation heavy music has had in a while. It’s a pairing that makes too much sense on paper, and the sound waves emanating out of this collaboration further prove its legitimacy. The vibrant bliss concocted on the record’s first full opening statement was enough to sell me. Gone are some of the murkier notes of records past, they opt for sheer clarity instead. It is as uplifting as it is daunting, nevertheless an exciting mood change for the band. As the duration of these tracks grows, so do the band’s lofty ambitions. The more traditional post-rock passages that wonder through a track like “Blind” hark back to genre classics like Mogwai’s ‘Young Team’, though decidedly less bogged down by its own anxieties. Neurosis instead have picked defiance as their core motivator, and it lends the music a subtly encouraging current of peace.
Add onto all of this the absolute behemoths that are the penultimate and closing tracks, and we have ourselves a deal. The already hypnotising performances are dialed up to 11, as pulsing drums carry with them some of the most vicious, enveloping guitar-work to be heard yet. As dissonant as they are delightful, counter-balancing moments of heft with pensiveness, these two pieces could not end this album with a more exclamatory sense of justice if they tried. To be honest, it isn’t too often that I come across a metal release that is this water-tight and up my alley, yet it is sitting immediately in front of me. My ears are hearing it, my brain is processing it, and I am left rather stunned. I see this album as the perfect opportunity for atmosludge and doom metal to rise the ranks a bit. Take command of the zeitgeist, twist expectations, push the styles to their respective edges. As a lover of metal as a whole, I get concerned that the saturation of various OSDM and tech-death acts in the underground is painting metal as a whole into a bit of a creative corner. Add to this the continual penchant for gatekeeping that plagues the genre, and you can see where things struggle to progress.
Neurosis has managed to deliver one of the most poignant political statements you’re likely to hear in music this year. They offer hope amidst the chaos of our fracturing society. They show us what is possible with a bit of audacity. Daring to stare into the void, scream into it, and embrace what is thrown back at you. Because for all of our lamentation on the senselessness of human behaviour, and our pervasive desires for unchecked power, a surge of care for this planet and its people will always cut through even stronger. It’s hard not to love home, wherever that may be. It’s difficult not to care about our futures, however long we have on this ball in this universe. ‘An Undying Love for a Burning World’ asks you to persist and get angry, but it also understands where that anger and persistence stems from. It doesn’t want the listener to forget the love of the world that drives them forward.
Dan Will Review 