Neurosis
A Sun That Never Sets
[Relapse/Release]
If the "Sovereign" EP was any indication, Neurosis were heading into a new
direction. And sure enough, on their brand new album the band revealed
themselves in a completely new light, much more subtle and composed, but just
as powerful and effective. Having already proved themselves as one of the
heaviest bands around, Neurosis chose to move forward and subdue their
apocalyptic brutality in favor of serene, introspective orchestration and
significant amounts of clean vocals. The tranquil elements of their music,
which could already be witnessed on the "Times Of Grace" album but in much
sparser doses, now became the band's new focus and were taken to the
unprecedented levels of fruition and experimentation, while the harsher
components were downgraded to a supporting role. In short, if Canadian
masters of orchestral crescendos Godspeed You Black Emperor! tried to cover
Black Sabbath songs, the end result could have been something approaching "A
Sun That Never Sets."
This album is like a sublime, brooding and solemn symphony, which must be heard as one whole. Some hard-headed fans might be shocked by the new, more sedated musical approach, but as the band stated in their interviews, this new turn is a perfectly logical progression that builds up on what they did in the past, and those who frown at it simply never got it in the first place. Rest assured that Neurosis haven't softened a bit, and I mean it in an emotional sense. The form may have been modified to be softer, but the substance remained intact, even stronger than before. Emotionally, this stuff is just as dark and heavy as anything that the band did in the past. I myself was deceived for a brief moment by the title of the album. After all, this is the band who called one of their previous records "Enemy Of The Sun." The joke was on me, though. It took just one listen of the title track to set me straight. "A sun that never sets burns on/New light is this river's dawn." This is the sun that keeps on burning upon the already scorched and ravaged Earth, long after the apocalyptic nightmare and destruction took place, and this album is where Neurosis combined the physical and the emotional in the most balanced way yet, evoking painfully vivid images to show you this post-apocalyptic world. A truly stunning achievement.
© 2001 boris
This album is like a sublime, brooding and solemn symphony, which must be heard as one whole. Some hard-headed fans might be shocked by the new, more sedated musical approach, but as the band stated in their interviews, this new turn is a perfectly logical progression that builds up on what they did in the past, and those who frown at it simply never got it in the first place. Rest assured that Neurosis haven't softened a bit, and I mean it in an emotional sense. The form may have been modified to be softer, but the substance remained intact, even stronger than before. Emotionally, this stuff is just as dark and heavy as anything that the band did in the past. I myself was deceived for a brief moment by the title of the album. After all, this is the band who called one of their previous records "Enemy Of The Sun." The joke was on me, though. It took just one listen of the title track to set me straight. "A sun that never sets burns on/New light is this river's dawn." This is the sun that keeps on burning upon the already scorched and ravaged Earth, long after the apocalyptic nightmare and destruction took place, and this album is where Neurosis combined the physical and the emotional in the most balanced way yet, evoking painfully vivid images to show you this post-apocalyptic world. A truly stunning achievement.
© 2001 boris