Times of Grace
Neurosis
Engineer: Steve Albini
Relapse Records (USA), 2006
1 CD
Catalogue #: 6419
EAN: 0781676641925
UPC: 781676641925
You save: 20%
Neurosis: Scott Kelly, Steve Von Till (vocals, guitar, percussion); Noah Landis (vocals, keyboards, samples); David Edwardson (vocals, Moog synthesizer, bass); Jason Roeder (drums, percussion).
Additional personnel: Wendy-O Matik (spoken vocals); Kris Force (violin, viola); Jackie Gratz (cello); John Goff (bagpipes); Jon Birdsong (cornet, tuba); Johannes Mager (trombone).
Recorded at Electrical Audio Recording, Chicago, Illinois in October 1998.
Art-metal heavyweights Neurosis have been steadily perfecting the balance between heaviness and symphonic grandeur, and they may have gotten things one hundred percent correct with TIMES OF GRACE. While the term "progressive" might elicit groans from diehard headbangers, it's entirely appropriate when describing the evolution of Neurosis's sound. Songs like "The Doorway" and "The Last You'll Know" build an inescapable sense of oppressive dread with their walls of crushing, droning guitar, but the band has far more than that to offer. Tribal rhythms, electronic textures, and delicate acoustic passages color the work and make the sheets of noise all the more potent when they arrive. "Exist" and "End of the Harvest" could almost be Chicago post-rock, given the repeated spare guitar figures and ambient background noise, while "Descent's" bagpipes put the band's occasional Celtic tribal leanings front and center. Most impressively on TIME OF GRACE, Neurosis may well have finally mastered the science of the slow buildup they'd been calculating since 1985. The sonic topography they explore in each song is unflaggingly fascinating and varied, leading to what is arguably the band's most consistent, fully realized album.
Tracklist
Neurosis
Formed in the late 1980s, Neurosis was one of the first heavy metal bands to rework the genre's sound in a genuinely experimental fashion. Using bits of acoustic guitar, sound collages, and experimental noise, and offering a politically charged multimedia live show, the Bay Area group gained a strong cult following as well as critical acceptance. The band formed the Tribes of Neurot art collective in the late '90s, and has been recording with famed producer Steve Albini since 1999's TIME OF GRACE.
