Neurosis - Given to the Rising Lmtd ed +Album Reviews

Every atom of sound in magnificent glow

doomsdayer520 | Pennsylvania | 06/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Neurosis have been defining post-metal for two decades, and here they continue to show us what it really means to be heavy. Heaviness is not non-stop groaning and bashing and screaming, like you get from every two-bit nu/extreme metal hack who's currently polluting the market. Instead, true heaviness comes from nuance, intelligence, and dynamics, and Neurosis continue to elevate metal to its deepest potential. This album is a masterpiece of sonic landscaping, with gutbucket riffs and insistent rhythms sharing space with atmospheric keyboards and chaotic noise. The Neurosis strategies of tightly coiled aggression and relentless aural design result in music that is somehow both terrifying and illuminating. The bludgeoning opener "Given to the Rising" is a perfect indicator of the full Neurosis assault, while the introspection-to-aggression dynamic is most evident in "To the Wind," which even starts with a little incisive balladry. This album peaks with the one-two-three punch of controlled violence in "Hidden Faces," "Water is Not Enough," and "Distill (Watching the Swarm)." Metal that's not afraid to slow down, focus its aggression, and control its attack will have the fullest impact with the thinking listener. Neurosis have helped define that attack throughout their history, and they continue to perfect it here. [~doomsdayer520~]"

As scary as ever

Wheelchair Assassin | The Great Concavity | 06/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Perhaps no band has rendered the sound of the apocalypse better than Neurosis, and their most recent effort, Given to the Rising, delivers the sort of sensory carpet bombing that fans have come to know and love. Their previous release, 2004's The Eye of Every Storm, was an excellent effort, but didn't really feel to this reviewer's ears like a "true" Neurosis album, as the eerie minimalism that had always been part of the band's sound occupied the forefront much more than on previous releases. Fortunately, the buzzsaw riffs that introduce the title track serve convincing notice that the Neurosis that released such imperious classics as Times of Grace and Through Silver in Blood is still very much in existence. That's certainly not to say the band has abandoned the textured atmospherics entirely--Nine sounds like something Tom Waits would do in one of his more avant-garde moments, and much of Origin sounds like Tool minus the pseudo-intellectualism--but most of Given to the Rising ranges from slow, twisted, and ugly to mid-tempo, twisted and ugly. The guitars are simply amazing here, piling on layer after layer of momentous, hellish riffage that drives home the claustrophobic heaviness of the music like a railroad spike, a sharp contrast to the more spacious soundscapes that made of much of the previous album. More important than any stylistic concerns, though, is the simple fact that from front to back Given to the Rising is one of Neurosis's best written efforts, and anyone familiar with their catalogue will know that's saying something. As is par for the Neurosis course, songs typically stretch into 8-10 minute territory, but even at half that length the band's brilliant use of hypnotic repetition and bowel-rattling rhythms would lend them a distinctly epic feel. Even at their darkest and most punishing, Neurosis show a skillful grasp of dynamics and progressions--witness Fear and Sickness's sudden transition from an ominous tribal chug to a harrowing midsection filled with searing guitar noise and tortured howls, or the way At the End of the Road builds from a creepy, Godflesh-style crawl to a gut-wrenchingly heavy and cavernous conclusion. For all fans who like their metal on the dark and frightening side, Given to the Rising, like most every Neurosis release, is absolutely essential."

Dark driving doom that does not destroy my eardrums

Eddie Lancekick | Pacific Northwest | 07/07/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This review will be just of this album as it is the first album I have reviewed of this band, so I cannot compare or use critical analysis of any kind when comparing this album release to albums from the band's past discography.

I have to say "progressive sludge metal" has taken some time to grow on me. In the past few years I could not really get to excited with other bands of this genre, mostly because the constant growl style of vocals and what I felt too often was uncreative noise from the guitars and percussion was not something that appealed to me. With Neurosis I find that their musicianship as well as a strong mesh between the vocalist and the rest of the band makes for a very strong album. Dark moods that cascade down over and over again within an ever-flowing journey of some great beats coupled with the excellent song structure throughout the album lend many imaginative and varying tracks. I won't detail every song but instead thought I would just try to paint a general picture of what I have experienced in listening to this album.

The track "Water is not enough" has a fabulous grinding guitar piece throughout and overall the song is simply haunting. Although I mentioned before I was never a fan of this particular vocal style, these guys have it down to an art form and with stellar songwriting you can actually soak up the message as opposed to trying better to understand it for lack of clarity. The album's soft cover has great artwork and inside the lyric booklet is also adorned with sinister landscape and images throughout. I'm still trying to understand why there are so many different genres of metal, including the popular "post-metal" label that often seems to be applied to this album. Overall a strong effort of what I used to call "Doom Metal" that has enough variance in theme and changeups to make this album a keeper in my collection. I look forward to going back and checking out past albums by this band, and encourage any long time Neurosis fans to add a comment to recommend any of their own personal favorites of the band to check out!

"

A Shot of Adrenaline into the Veins of a Nearly Dead Post-Me

Avernus | Weatherford, TX, USA | 10/17/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First and foremost, I would like to make clear that I by no means claim to be an authority on Neurosis, or any form of post, sludge, drone or whatever term would normally be attached to this unique piece of metal. Formerly the only exposure to this genre that really caught my ear and kept my avid attention was the great band Isis. Most other post-metal acts generally leave me vaguely dissatisfied or completely uninterested. Isis seemed simply light years ahead of the likes of Jesu, Red Sparowes and a myriad of others. Perhaps it is a bit unfair for me to disregard every other band of the growing post-metal movement that fails to live up to the standards that Isis set with the vividly colorful and ever evolving release "Oceanic," but I simply cannot help myself. After all, Isis was my first exposure to this genre, and unavoidably the most lasting. Soon after experiencing the widely acclaimed release "Black One" by the oddly named Sunn o))), I completely gave up on dark-drone-whatever metal, writing it off as largely uninspired, or as in the case of "Black One," completely and utterly laughable. When "Given to the Rising" was released, my attention was briefly drawn back to this obscure spectrum of metal. Neurosis had been a band I had always intended to sample, but not desperately enough to gamble on getting another slab of mediocre waste. With nothing left in my Amazon wish list, and a couple of bucks to blow, I decided to risk it. The gamble was well worth the reward, being a complete and absolute rejuvenation of faith in the genre of post-metal.

"Given to the Rising" is a beautifully, and utterly bleak sound scape. Mountains of lead-heavy riffage crash against each other layered more often than not with almost Sonic Youth-esque pillars of haunting noise and feedback. (Fear not those who have yet to experience Neurosis, this sounds NOTHING like Sonic Youth. I am merely trying to paint a close to accurate picture of what you are in for, and at the moment, no other band I can think of adds white noise to their music with such strong end results. I would hate to scare you away from such a great band by mentioning the largely despised Sonic Youth in reference to this masterpiece, but you know, for lack of a better example..) Those who have experienced "Given to the Rising" could understand this, those who haven't might be a little put off by this description. Neurosis do not simply offer metal with a dose of noise, the mix is masterfully crafted into something delightfully haunting and highly artistic. This is, as cliche as it sounds, simply one of those albums you have to hear to believe.

The riffage in "Given to the Rising" much like Isis, is dominantly repetitive, and at times quite melodically complex. Also, like any Isis album, "Given to the Rising" is completely demanding of your unwavering attention. This is not just another mindless metal album that bashes you over the head with raging rivers of adrenaline, nor is this something to be used as background music. This album is most appreciated when listened to in its lengthy entirety, (at about 70 minutes) and with minimum unnecessary stimuli. "Given to the Rising" is a sensory experience that you want to totally immerse yourself into. Littered with sometimes subtle, sometimes terraced dynamic shifts, abstract and haunting things happening in the background, and an overall thick, foggy, tar-like atmosphere, "Given to the Rising" offers a multitude of rewards to the careful, imaginative listener.

From someone largely unimpressed and relatively ignorant concerning the post-drone-sludge metal scene, I nevertheless urge you to give Neurosis' "Given to the Rising" a chance. Presenting us with an album that gives other great albums of 2007 (Such as Ulver's "Shadows of the Sun," Pain of Salvation's "Scarsick," and Porcupine Tree's "Fear of a Blank Planet,") some very stiff competition, Neurosis have definitely won at least one new fan with "Given to the Rising," and I imagine there will be plenty more to follow."

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