Customer Reviews

Sun That Never Sets

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4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

NEUROSIS - A Sun That Never Sets
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Neurosis is an aural force that is basically unmatched in the world of heavy music... They have laid the seeds for such bands as Isis, Pelican, Red Sparowes and countless others. This being their 7th album they further explore the multi-layered textures of music, pushing the bounds of sound...
The Vocals of Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly have never sounded better... Their dark, almost Tom Waits-inspired singing accompanied by thick screams and yells blends a powerful vocal force to be reckoned with. On top of them the Tribal Drumming, the Crunchy Guitars, thick low-end Bass, and the variety of other instruments such as Violin and Keys only further add to this dark textured atmosphere. Neurosis sinks you in like few other bands can... What is best about Neurosis is their music is modest and less pretentious than many other `progressive' bands. They choose to slowly build lush layers of beautiful, yet heavy soundscapes instead of all-out flashy musicianship.
Neurosis is best enjoyed when other distractions are not present, A nice walk with head-phones on... or lying on your bed with the lights out and the tunes blaring...

Neurosis is the "Napalm Death" of Post-Metal and have spawned countless other bands so if you like any of the previous mentioned bands or any of today's modern post-rock/metal be sure to check out From Where Its Roots Run.... Neurosis.

Favorite Songs: Falling Unknown, The Tide, Stones from the Sky and Watchfire.
-5 Star


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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.

Neurosis are easily one of the most unique and influential (just ask Isis, Pelican, The Red Sparows, etc.) metal bands out there, and this album is no exception. Continuing the evolution that started with Times Of Grace (which was a slight move away from the dark bludgeonings that characterized Through Silver In Blood) and the Sovereign EP, A Sun That Never Sets establishes the band's embrace of a more melodic "post-metal" sound.

Now, when I say "metal," throw out your normal expectations of metal, including classical/pentatonic fretboard runs, lyrics about Satan and death, and endless blastbeats. A Sun Never Sets is more concerned with texture, using a sense of sparse minimalism and repetition to achieve gradual, swelling impact. Tracks frequently stretch out to 8 minutes or more, taking their time to unfold and develop into epic soundscapes. The distorted guitars are augmented with keyboards, viola, and Jason Roeder's thundering drums as Steven Von Til and Scott Kelly's harsh vocals paint images of nomadic cultures and cracked earth under a burning sky. Repeat until soul is either nourished or destroyed (depending on your mood)..

After a brief intro, The Tide throws the listener deep into Neurosis' ravaged world, its chanted vocals, slow-building melody, and explosive climax an excellent summary of the band's sound. The closer Stones In The Sky begins with ominous tolling bells and develops into one of the most shattering conclusions of any album I've ever heard--a wall of sound raging against the final darkness. In between you have tribal interludes, bleak dirges, and bizarre, experimental sounds.

In other words, a classic. Fans of brilliant, emotive, progressive music (metal or otherwise) MUST have this one.

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! ;)

The end of Stones from the Sky is supposed to sound like its skipping at the end. Anyway I have rethought my original rating for this album after listening to it a lot more recently and I relized what a beutiful album this is. Neurosis is a truly unique band and will hopefully be around for a long time.

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 ...)

Neurosis' seventh album blends unprecedented beauty and radiance with their classic use of dynamics and power. Neurosis is the ultimate juxtaposition of life's plain realities - a strong will in a world that inspires weakness.

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.

Neurosis never fail to redefine themselves and perhaps that too many is why they are so amazing. Its not often a band lets themselves walk without crutches and used concepts of either thier earlier sound or a conventional dictum or genre, again as before with Neurosis we are running on new land. Neurosis's earth shattering tribal war drums that pummled us in "Through Silver in Blood" have for the last few albums, so been toned down and a much more melodic and ethereal side has emerged. "A Sun that Never Sets" assures us once again we will never hear a part two of any Neurosis album and that thier creativity and inspiration will never leave us thirsty.

An accurate description of Neurosis will ever fail the person attempting a narrowing description. I will as before try and say that Neurosis are an elegant, mature and slightly psychedellic mid tempo "Tribal Metal" band. The involvement to the listener is exceptional and above so many billions of other bands.

Come play your own drum in the circle of this brilliance.

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.