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Neurosis: Honor Found In Decay

There are few bands out there today who pack the ferocious, ominous power of sludge titans Neurosis, and on the bands 10th release, Honor Found In Decay, they show no signs of slowing down one bit even though they are fast approaching 30 years in existence. Once again engineered by Steve Albini, the band have unleashed a dramatic, chaotic, and atmospheric wall of sound here that is from start to finish, trademark Neurosis.

"We All Rage in Gold" kicks things off, and features plenty of molten riffage from Scott Kelly & Steve Von Till, as well as plodding rhythms and tortured vocals. Things really pick up steam though on the 10-minute "All the Well", an agonizing journey into psychedelic sludge, complete with trippy keyboards, crushing riffs, and more of those desperate vocals that just tear at your soul. An excellent tune that shows Neurosis at their most progressive and complex. The moody "My Heart for Deliverance" follows, a more atmospheric number with lilting guitar chords and creepy soundscapes, occasionally lurching into booming doom metal that just bristles with menace.

"Bleeding the Pigs" could be the soundtrack to a redneck horror movie, and "Casting of the Ages" again sees the band slowly building from creepy, chilling atmosphere to grueling, hatred fueled sludge permeated by feedback laden distorted riffs and agonizing vocals. It's 10 minutes of nightmarish sounds as only Neurosis can produce. The band ups the noise ante on the chaotic "All is Found...In Time", as Jason Roeder's busy drum fills burst about the mix amidst haunting keyboard effects, heavy acid rock guitars and Kelly's straining vocals. Closing dirge "Raise the Dawn" ends Honor Found in Decay on an almost apocalyptic note, with crashing drums and noisy, droning riffs providing the soundscape for Kelly's furious vocal wailings to drift over. It's a brutal and potent way to end this powerful album.

If you're not already on board with Neurosis' dark, haunting style of sludge & doom, Honor Found in Decay is probably not going to open your eyes and prompt you to hop on, but for those who have followed this band, it's a strong new release that may lack in diversity & variety, but makes up for it with sheer power and drama. Bleakness never sounded this good.


Track Listing
1) We All Rage in Gold
2) All the Well
3) My Heart for Deliverance
4) Bleeding the Pigs
5) Casting of the Ages
6) All is Found...In Time
7) Raise the Dawn

Added: October 31st 2012
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 3052
Language: english

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Neurosis: Honor Found In Decay
Posted by Carl Sederholm, SoT Staff Writer on 2012-10-31 21:49:10
My Score:

Neurosis is one of those bands that I've somehow missed in all my years of listening to heavy metal. Friends have been telling me to check them out for years and, with this new release, I finally get a sense of what everyone has been talking about. I can't say that I loved every moment of this album, but I really began to connect with it in the third track "My Heart for Deliverance." There are times, during the 11 minutes of this track, that I almost thought I could describe as beautiful. The chord changes, the melodies, the mood of the thing, moves along at a satisfying face. When, near the end, a female voice tells us something to the effect that "we belong to the universe," I found myself believing it, wanting it to be true. "Bleeding the Pigs," the next track takes things in a much darker direction. The rest of the album sticks with the strengths Neurosis has more than likely honed over their long career. I like them best when they let the music pause. This is one to listen to over and over again.



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