Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 23/09/2016
Label: Neurot Recordings
“Fires Within Fires” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1). Bending
Light
2). A Shadow
Memory
3). Fire is
the End Lesson
4). Broken
Ground
5). Reach
The Review:
Neurosis are celebrating being a band for 30 years
and what better way to celebrate than a new album? It's no secret that I
fucking love this band. 'Through Silver
In Blood' and 'Times of Grace'
opened my mind to the possibilities of musical and sonic exploration and many
of my epiphanies have been soundtracked by their extensive back catalog.
Ok, let's get one thing straight; Neurosis will never make another
of the aforementioned albums, so stop comparing every album to them! Neurosis
are a band that are constantly evolving, each album is a point on a serpentine
time line, 'Fires Within Fires' is
the band's 11th studio album (12th if you count the album they recorded Jarboe)
and they waste no time in dishing out the meaty slabs on opening track 'Bending Light', a few moments of calm
permeate the atypically monstrous Scott Kelly penned riffs.
Kelly's voice, one of the most distinctive and powerful in
all of music, carries the track, direct and with a clear mission; complete
destruction of biblical proportions. "Peeling skin away, reveals the
heart" scream Kelly and Co vocalist/guitarist Steve Von Till,
themes of the elements, the mind, the soul and the body are always explored on
a Neurosis
record and the point is hammered home here. Softly, the noise and beautiful
clean guitars of 'A Shadow Memory',
definitely a Von Till song idea, will furrow inside your brain and cleanse your
spirit, then the heaviness hits and Von Till gives us his impeccable gruff,
melodic bellow while the songs central harmony, understated in it's simplicity,
washes over you in waves of brilliance. The contributions of Noah Landis on
keys/synths/samples is no less important than on 'Honour Found In Decay' but lies a little deeper in the mix,
allowing for the guitars (a few new pedals being used maybe?) to come to the
forefront. Landis' weapons of choice become more prominent on 'Fire Is The End Lesson', shimmering and
floating around the guitars like a swarm of gravity defying bees and when the
heavy riff kicks in around the 3.30 mark it's impossible not to be reminded of
all those epically crushing moments throughout their career.
'Broken Ground' begins with some more top notch sample work from
Landis before the clean riffing, with the kind of string bend we've come to
know and love from Neurosis, sets the moody tone, backed by Jason
Roeder's no nonsense approach to rhythm. Lyrics of burning wood, stones and
seeking the sun embraces the music in Steve Von Till's ever improving singing
voice...then we get the heaviness again and it's Neurosis in their soul smashing
purest form. At the tail end the album is 'Reach', if you were to look at a
line graph of all past Neurosis albums to define songs; this would
fall where “Souls At Zero” and “The Eye of Every Storm” meet. Chorus laden guitars and the 'tape
rewinding' sounds dance around the rhythm laid down by Roeder and bassist Dave
Edwardson. "They'll never see all that we see. Trust in blood. Live in
waters..." sing Kelly and Von Till sorrowfully during the quieter
parts. The song breaks off into minimalist, ambient territory for a while...and
then the heavy part. The first time I heard it, I got goosebumps. Each subsequent
listen yielded the same result. What better way to end the album than with all
guns blazing and Scott Kelly roaring away.
Neurosis seem to redefine themselves each decade; in
the 80's they were pissed off, aggressive but had your best interests at heart.
In the 90's, they progressed to become a thought provoking, godlike beast,
creating 4 albums which influenced hundreds of bands and which still stand out
in today's musical landscape. In the 00's, they were more reflective and
organic, using clean singing and ambient parts. As this decade has yet to
close, it's difficult to define what Neurosis are...but herein lies their beauty;
you define who and what they are to you. After 30 years, these guys know what
needs to go into a Neurosis record and will continue to do so
until the music is finished with them.
“Fire Within Fires”
is available here
