"Enemy of the Sun" is the album released between the two landmark records,"Souls at Zero" and "Through Silver in Blood," by this crust/sludge/doom hybrid. Released just a year after "Souls at Zero," it gave a pretty good hint of what to expect from the band in the future. "Lost" and "Raze the Stray," the two best songs on the album, are like a guiding light directly into "Through SIlver in Blood" with their slow, dark and moody music. The rest of the tracks look back to Neurosis' roots as they pummel the listener with huge slabs of sludge and doom, with "Time of the Beasts" and the title track being especially effective. The album is rounded off with a 26 minute tribal drum workout "Cleanse."

Overall, "Enemy of the Sun" serves as more of a transition point in the band's artistic explorations, but it is, no doubt, good enough to scare the living daylights out of any good Samaritan at any given time of a day. I have no problem recommending this album to Neurosis' fans. The newcomers to the band, however, need to start with above mentioned "Souls at Zero" and "Through Silver in Blood" to really get blown away.

© 1999 boris