NEUROSIS - Given To The Rising Review

Atmospheric metal is so saturated now that it’s filled with clones of clones—Isis Jrs. Granted, Isis doesn’t sound like Neurosis now—the divergence occurred circa Oceanic—but they sure as hell did early on. That foundation will forever underlie anything bearded, slow, and Sabbath-y—what has been called the NeurIsis sound. Truth is, most of those bands bite the latter part. Isis is melodic, more accessible, critic-approved. Neurosis, frankly, is hard to step to. Twenty-one year-old bands don’t inspire imitators, they inspire acolytes....full text To write a review of Neurosis album is a daunting task. Their music is monolithic and takes multiple listens just to absorb the structures of the songs. Then you have to add in all of those creepy layers of keyboards and guitar squalls that truly flesh out the songs. Neurosis began to create this vision in 1985 and have only improved upon their sound with each preceding album. In this time period, Neurosis have also made long, expansive songs their weapon of choice, only further pushing themselves away from any type of commercial acceptance....full text Neurosis' 1996 landmark Through Silver In Blood wasn't merely explosive in its dynamics; the album hit the underground like a concussion grenade, clearing the road for countless lumbering, lysergic "post-metal" bands to follow. Four albums and one pastoral-folk period later, the San Francisco powerhouse reclaims the sound that made it legendary. Given To The Rising opens with a paint-peeling title track, then toys with listener expectations for its remainder, kicking open hell's maw only after tracking through long, eerily still passages like the ones in "At The End If The Road." ...full text