Disco de Neurosis: “Sun That Never Sets”

I purchased this album yesterday and I can tell you if you're a Neurosis fan and you haven't heard it you'll be pleased. It's different from what I expected but that's typical of any Neurosis album. On the first listen you never know what to expect except for the pounding tribal drums and various other noise textures. One of the things I love about this band is that all their albums seem to grow on me very gradually. I purchased Times of Grace when it first came out and at first I was slightly disappointed. I guess I expected them to top the beyond classic Through Silver In Blood(probably the greatest offering of music from anyone). It took a while but after a year or so(that's right, it took a year for me to figure out the complexity of it! That's how far ahead of me they are.) I found myself hearing things in the music I hadn't heard the first few times around. I think this album will be much like that but it seems to have leeched me from the first listen. Neurosis can create such overwhelming feelings of desperation, pain, and sorrow more effectively and differently than anyone out there. "Falling Unknown" from this album is the perfect example. WOW!!! What a beautifully dark song! It starts off like a typical(or untypical) Neurosis song, slowly building but this one is slightly different. Building gradually, slowing down to a crawl, then slowly pulling the listener into a hellish abyss utilizing everything in their arsenal, drums, guitar, bass, violins, and probably layers of other instruments, pulling you into a void that is extremely painful yet somehow extremely beautiful at the same time.

If you're a Neurosis fan don't hesitate, grab this immediately. If you're not a Neurosis fan you should know this stuff is by no means what I call 'quick fix' music. It's a long meanduring journey through unchartered musical territory. If you listen to anything in the mainstream then this WILL NOT suit you as many of the maimstream conformists at Ozzfest have determined. I'd suggest starting with Through Silver In Blood first as that is probably their most powerful release. Neurosis are arguably giving the world the deepest, darkest, most thought-provoking music ever heard. They are one of my favorite bands right along side Today Is The Day. If you like this also check out Brighter Death Now and Archon Satani. I think I'm the only person in the world who has heard of these guys.

This music is best on cold, rainy, Sunday mornings or late at night. Not for boom boxes either. Audiophiles, if you think bands like Tool and Nine Inch Nails are putting out the most powerful, multi-layered, bass-pounding productions, you're wrong. When you're done fooling around with mainstream ..., this is the way. Put it in and experience serenity.

For the longest time I avoided this band because for some reason I thought they were just some black metal band or some other offshoot of typical heavy music...I was completely wrong!

The sound is dark and heavy, but not prototypical metal and for the most part NOT FAST! What?! Yeah - this is not your generic headbanging metal - this is moody, atmospheric, intelligently composed metal! In fact most of the album is instrumental and the majority of the vocals are delivered at a slow pace - whether in deep growls, harsh yells, droning whispers, or softly sung melodies. The drumming is very deep and tribal sounding - moving from quiet to heavy or simple to complex as the composition unfolds. The mixture of bizarre sound effects and keyboards creates a lot of the atmosphere and such instruments as the violin add to the beautiful texture of the album. The guitar work is wonderfully executed - acoustic melodies, distorted feedback, sludgy grooves, clean rhythm and solo work - all layered into the songs with purpose and precision.

Comparisons? Remember the dark mysterious track called 'Black Sabbath' that would become the name of the legendary band? This album contains that same sort of dramatic spooky effect. Elements of Porcupine Tree and Opeth can be heard, but a comparison to them could be decieving - Neurosis have a unique and distinguished sound. The sludgy guitars remind me of the stoner-rock band Kyuss - particularly on the final track "Stones from the Sky" - and don't let the last 40 seconds of the CD fool you...it isn't your player messing up...it's just part of the sound effects...

RECOMMENDATION: If you are an open minded music lover and enjoy not just the heaviness of this album, but it's diversity also then you may enjoy a late 60's/early 70's progressive band called It's a Beautiful Day (you can read my review on their debut album). For the heavy music lovers...well...you probably already know about Opeth! ;)

Man, Neurosis has done it again. They continually deliver amazing albums that are both beautiful and gut wrenchingly heavy at the same time.

This album feels like a continuation of the sound they forged on Times of Grace -a bit more melodic and more organic sounding compared to Through Silver... and Enemy of the Sun. In general there is less of the all out attack of the previous albums and more of a intense "threatening" sound that builds slowly. But they still manage to sound every bit as evil as before. There is also more vocal variation here with singing a la "Away" (from T.O.G.)on many tracks instead of only screamed vocals.

I also have to give some props to Steve Albini for the production. It's very clear and warm sounding (like most of the stuff he produces), he somehow manages to capture the essence of all bands he records. And the drum sound is HUGE, a very important part of Neurosis heavy sound.

So get this album, it will blow your mind. Most records this long bore me but Neurosis can make 70 minute albums that you listen to the whole way through without tiring. It's like a sonic journey, the only other comparison I can think of is Pink Floyd because their music also seems to take you for a journey and they also make albums where the songs flow together into one continuous soundscape (I don't mean Neurosis sound like PF ...)

As a rather non-creative person myself, I find it rather difficult to imagine where bands like Neurosis get their ideas. That said, we should all be thankful such original and intelligent bands exist, hard to find though they may be. While this band's titanic riffs, harsh vocalizations, and generally disaffected atmosphere all scream "metal," there's a lot more going on here. Yes, these guys do a great job of replicating the dark mood that has defined the metal genre since Black Sabbath's emergence, but Neurosis are clearly one of the few bands that can experiment freely without losing any credibility among the headbanging crowd. "A Sun That Never Sets," Neurosis's seventh album and a worthy successor to the shockingly brilliant "Times of Grace," is a perfect example of their agenda. Heavy though it may be, many aspects of this album are unmistakably progressive, from the epic song lengths to the extended lighter passages to the occasional use of strings, bagpipes, and keyboards. Now, lest anyone be scared off by the use of the term "progressive," Neurosis share little to nothing in common with the more pretentious likes of Dream Theater or Opeth (not that there's necessarily anything wrong with those bands, but Neurosis is a different beast entirely). They may push boundaries, but Neurosis are still one of the heaviest bands out there, and the aforementioned periods of relative quiet only make it more punishing when they resume their furious metallic assault. And when Neurosis bear down, they can deliver quite an assault indeed, propelled mainly by the twisted guitar work of Steve von Till and Scott Kelly and Jason Roeder's thunderous tribal drumming. "Watchfire" is perhaps the weirdest and most brilliant song in the Neurosis catalog to date, a musical and emotional roller coaster that seemlessly blends all the disparate elements that make Neurosis Neurosis. Of course, it's rather unfair to single out just one song on this album for praise, as they all demonstrate superior musicianship, songwriting, and atmosphere, but it'll have to do. Now that the Red Sox have just won the World Series, I'm convinced nothing's impossible, but I'd still be shocked if Neurosis were to release a bad album. Get everything of theirs you can find, throw it in your stereo, and prepare to be shocked. You can't stop Neurosis; you can only hope to contain them.

A Sun that Never Sets is certainly not only one of the best albums in my collection but one of the most important musical expressions of my being. In my own experience, it has been one of the most emotionally powerful recordings that I have yet to encounter. Overwhelming. The slow pace at which their songs tread on will drag out a song so much in its absorbent energy that by the end you didn't even realize that it was upwards of ten minutes long. Every track is beautiful. And the transition at the start of the forth minute on "Crawl Back In" is quite possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. As a caveat, I learned from experience that if you are sad about something in your life this CD will exacerbate its emotional intensity to seemingly infinite depths but at the same time can act as a cleansing of those negative emotions.