Neurosis - Given To The Rising

First and foremost, a big excuse to anyone involved for putting this review up here way too late. A major release like this should be treated with a bit more respect (and sense of deadline) and I certainly don't want to piss off Southern in any way. So, my sincere apologies.

For the people who haven't been properly introduced to this band yet: Neurosis are the true godfathers of the doom-core, sludgy, post-core-metal genre, that Isis really made popular. They have been busy for over 20 years, and they're just reaching
their creative prime. Records like Through Silver In Blood have been cited as a major influence to bands as diverse as Machine Head, Satyricon and Mastodon.

So Neurosis yet again returns with a mighty fine release, yet again produced by Steve Albini and yet again it's an overwhelming record. There's no question about the quality you get when it comes to Neurosis records. The only thing one might ask himself is if it's better than the last one. 

I personally consider previous outing The Eye Of Every Storm as Neurosis' finest hour to date. The evolution from being just loud and pummeling to a rich blend of sonic textures was (to me) simply outstanding. The whole record just clicked together as if it was one seamless collection of songs.
 
And yet, Neurosis evolves again. By writing a bunch of 'songs' (yes, songs), adding some mid-tempo 'grooves', and even (dare I say it) some catchy riffs. It's almost a bit awkward at first, but soon I realized that this refined and restructured Neurosis sound is exactly what these guys needed to not repeat themselves. And after repeated listens, this monster also just clicks together as if it were a seamless piece of music.

But the real 'holy shit, this is awesome' moment, came at the Roadburn Festival. Neurosis started their performance with this record's opening track, and well: Ouch. The 'hook' hooked, and it just destroyed everything. Brilliant stuff.

I probably have to hear this  record a couple of 100 times more because of its complex sonic nature, but I think my grade is still justified. Not perfect because Neurosis might still do better, but it's pretty damn close.