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Neurosis


That Dude With The Shades

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  • 3 years later...
42 minutes ago, BlutAusNerd said: I finally got to see them live at MDF last year, and I have to agree.

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Love them, but the live show I saw dragged and left me a bit cold. 

I'm sorry to hear that. They were just one part of a stacked lineup at MDF, and still managed to stand out. Hopefully you can see them another time and have a better experience.

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They took me a while to get into. I had trouble with their vocals at first. The album that clicked for me was A Sun That Never Sets - the songwriting and some of the parts reminded me a bit of mid-90s Swans, which I was listening to constantly at the time. But their best album IMO is Times Of Grace. I'll check out the new one, but I haven't been amazed by their last few.

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3 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

They took me a while to get into. I had trouble with their vocals at first. The album that clicked for me was A Sun That Never Sets - the songwriting and some of the parts reminded me a bit of mid-90s Swans, which I was listening to constantly at the time. But their best album IMO is Times Of Grace. I'll check out the new one, but I haven't been amazed by their last few.

Think vocals are the main issue for me as I can be quite unforgiving with bands in this aspect.  I hated Inquisition for the vocals initially but have slowly come round to them over the years.

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They took me a while to get into. I had trouble with their vocals at first. The album that clicked for me was A Sun That Never Sets - the songwriting and some of the parts reminded me a bit of mid-90s Swans, which I was listening to constantly at the time. But their best album IMO is Times Of Grace. I'll check out the new one, but I haven't been amazed by their last few.

A Sun That Never Sets was my first Neurosis album, and I didn't get it. Then I got Souls at Zero and I was blown away. Their later works started to make sense after that, and now I love all of them that I have. They're not an easy band by any means.

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I have been a die hard Neurosis fan since hearing Locust Star on Through Silver And Blood in 1996.  Still one of my all time favorite metal songs, Locust Star starts out slow and creepy and spends just the right amount of time building up before  Scott Kellys amazing growl and the bands trade mark heaviness kicks in.   So raw and so heavy, it demanded to be listened to.   Locust Star pretty much jump started my love of metal and my spiral into the world of post-metal.  On Times Of Grace Neurosis did everything right and it became my favorite album of all time for many years.  I especially liked the fact that Tribes Of Neurot (basically an experimental version of Neurosis consisting of all the same members plus a few others) recorded a companion album to be played at the same time as Times Of Grace.  I was really into John Zorn, Praxis, and Mr. Bungle at the time so I loved it when bands found new ways to be original and the outcome was incredible.  Then A Sun That Never Sets came out.  It was very different than anything else they had done.  A LOT more instruments and keyboard stuff and plenty of post-metal build ups and slow moving repetitive riffs.   Plus I think this is the first album that Steve Von Till starts to get his signature vocal style that spawned his solo recordings.  I did like the album and the DVD that came out for it but I felt a bit let down.  I wanted another Locust Star moment but I didn't get it.  Then Neurosis did an album with Jarbo (ex-vocalist from The Swans) and it was terrible and pretentious IMO.  I had all but given up on Neurosis ( a difficult thing to do when you have a Tribes Of Neurot tattoo on your arm) when they released The Eye Of Every Storm.  This album took everything they did well on A Sun That Never Sets times 100.  The Eye Of Every Storm basically solidified the fact that this is what Neurosis sound like  now and it was great. 

Neurosis has been one of the most difficult bands to be a hard core fan of especially since they rarely tour outside of California.   Their stage presence is that of a group of life long friends playing what they want to play like they are in the studio just jamming by themselves...so I can understand it being very difficult to appreciate them live if you are not a fan or familiar with their music. 

If you are just now getting into Neurosis I would start with Through Silver And Blood (Locust Star is Track 5) then go back to Enemy Of The Sun and Souls At Zero THEN listen to Times Of Grace.  Do this before listening to Sun That Never Sets or your Neurosis experience will be shattered.

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I disagree, "A Sun..." has some amazing melodies and the buildups are worth the wait. It's just a different type of songwriting, and it takes patience to listen to. TOG is my favorite, ASTNS is probably my second if I had to pick. I've found their work since then to be kind of self-referential and underwhelming. 

I'm a huge Swans fan (no "The" dammit), but I haven't enjoyed anything Jarboe has done outside of that context, including the Neurosis collaboration. 

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