### Neuronia: Follow the white mouse

#### 15/09/10 || cadenz

Okay, what have we got here? Neuronia, a Polish ensemble releasing their sophomore disc. So you like Cavalera-era Sepultura, eh? Made a record with borderline-copycat material plus some monotone riffs and some totally out there stuff thrown in, huh? I’d never thought someone would call Max Cavalera “White Mouse”, since he’s quite far off from both of those things, but if following him makes you happy, hey…

So “Follow the White Douche” contains some kind of up-tempo sludge. Does that make sense? No? Thrash metal with a stoner vibe? Better, yes? No? Fuck you. Neuronia’s message seems to be: “Hey, I’m in your face telling you what to fucken do and think, you motherfucker!” There’s quite a lot of different shit going on here, but the main vibe is that of an angry dog barking at you and biting your calf. Luckily there is the “Stop” button (or mace, whichever works) for occasions when it just gets too over-bearing. Frantic and aggressive are keywords here.

So thrashy riffs, double kicks, unpolished bellowing and somewhat chaotic arrangements make the foundation, but Neuronia aren’t that simple. They throw in lots of other stuff, randomly it seems. A goth metal song with assorted clean vocals, some British punk yodeling, a harmonized guitar lead, a fucken horrific attempt at growling, a dexterous solo, gang shouts…uh. I really don’t know where this band is heading with their stuff, and I’m not sure if they know that themselves. A big mish-mash of this and that and nothing in between, it seems. Fuck.

The muddy production somehow suits the music, being indistinct in itself. Quality wise there are some cool parts on this here disc, but they’re part of the minority, by far. Most riffs are just generic and of the infamous I’ve-heard-this-before-but-done-better type; and most arrangements just don’t fucken work, because either they’re a) stale, b) boring, c) unimaginative, d) all of the above. I usually don’t like to give this advice, but… hey guys, have you thought about hiring a producer?

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Fonografika
- Website: Neuronia MySpace
- Band
- Maciej “Tektur” Nawrot: vocals
- Rafal “Lewy” Lewandowski: guitar, vocals
- Michal “Misiek” Rogala: guitar
- Dominik “Boski Dominik” Beska: bass
- Michał Pasternak: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Inside
- 02. Make Them Die
- 03. Slipping into Oblivion
- 04. White Mouse
- 05. November Skies
- 06. Faster
- 07. Death Has Come to Town
- 08. Put Your Dukes Up
- 09. Outside