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Neurosis: The eye of every storm

26/06/07 || The Duff

Neurosis, throughout their twenty odd year career, have covered a wide range of musical genres, and have more than an impressive discography under their belt due to the fact that, not only have they given rise to a couple of sub-genres and influenced a great number of bands, but everything they’ve put to record has, simply put, been fucken gold. “The Eye of Every Storm” more than continues this band’s outstanding track record, and may to some (including myself) be the finest Neurosis album to date.

Now, this ain’t as textured as “A Sun That Never Sets”, nor is it as crushing as “Through Silver In Blood”, but the fact that Isis’ “Panopticon” is my favourite album of all time has gone a long way in making me appreciate this Neurosis effort over all past works – “The Eye of Every Storm” is this band’s attempt at sludge/post-rock, meaning that the album delivers an atmosphere as one would expect from such a sub-genre along with the band’s impressive ability to coat everything it produces with the heaviest sense of despair.

The opener “Burn” is probably the strangest cut off the album in that it is far more direct than the rest of “The Eye of Every Storm”, combining heavy, sludgy riffs with the use of light guitars and the band’s now almost trademark vocals (Scott Kelly has one of the most expressionate voices in the business, capable of delivering a truly heart-wrenching performance). The following tracks all seem to steer clear of presenting music of such a bold nature, focusing more on creating soundscapes with minimal use of instruments. There are still those crashing, heavy moments that Neurosis have been known to use in the past so as to contrast the less dense, bordering the dreamy (still very depressing) music, but they are used far more sparingly.

In comparison to this band’s previous offering, “A Sun that Never Sets”, Scott Kelly has reduced his harsher approach to singing, choosing to side more with quiet yet unsettling clean vocals. For the most part, these work very well, but for “No River To Take Me Home” they tend to fail somewhat miserably due to their simply sounding very shit, making said track the worst off the album. Nonetheless, for the most part he is very passionate and emotional in his conveyance, successfully exuberating a persona ripped and torn with a mixture of both soothing and enraged vocal-work – I’m sure the desired effect.

To wrap things up, “The Eye of Every Storm” is a thrilling ride. At first I thought it would be an album for a particularly fitting mood (like while contemplating suicide), but I have grown so fond of it over the years that I believe myself able to enjoy it under any circumstances for its strangely relaxing properties. This is honestly as close to being just shy of immaculate as they get, but unfortunately for the vocals on “No River To Take Me Home”, this gets a little less than a perfect score. Still, if you like Isis, but want something with a much darker vibe, then this comes as most recommended.

9 not quite perfect storms (yes, I went there) out of 10.

Information
Released: 2004
Label: Neurotic Records
Website: www.neurosis.com
Band
Scott Kelly: guitars, vocals
Steve Von Till: guitars, vocals, filters, textures
Dave Edwardson: bass, synth
Noah Landis: organ, piano, samples
Jason Roeder: drums
Oooooh, look at me, I’m Josh Graham, I take three years to not reply to an interview, aren’t I great!: visual media

Tracklist
01. Burn
02. No River to Take Me Home
03. The Eye of Every Storm
04. Left to Wander
05. Shelter
06. A Season in the Sky
07. Bridges
08. I Can see You

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