ALBUM REVIEW: An Undying Love For A Burning World – Neurosis
When it comes to music and album releases nowadays, there are generally no surprises when it comes to when records drop. With the ascension of the power of the internet, information and music are leaked so there are no real surprises anymore, that wasn’t the case for the return of the mighty NEUROSIS however.
As with the maverick and forward thinking nature of their work, NEUROSIS do things their own way and as they dropped an utter bombshell with not only returning with a brand new album in the immense An Undying Love For A Burning World, but also with a huge change in lineup as well, their number bolstered with the addition of Aaron Turner (ISIS/SUMAC/OLD MAN GLOOM and more) joining vocalist/guitarist Steve Von Till, bassist Dave Edwardson, drummer Jason Roeder and keyboardist Noah Landis, and Turner fits in the most perfect way. This news shocked and enthralled the entire extreme music community, and as the news broke, the internet went nuclear with the news, and it felt like a pivotal and seismic moment in which nobody could quite believe.
Quite how this album and the return of NEUROSIS has managed to remain a secret is a miracle in itself but now it’s happened, it seems to have united so many who thought that NEUROSIS had ended for good but the band have returned like like some sort of apocalyptic post-metal phoenix from the flames, and the resulting eight epic songs that make up the record are testament to the bands utter resilience.
The reason for that resilience has been well documented, and the horrifying nature for it can obviously not be ignored and won’t be forgotten. But the focus is now on the resurrection of the band and An Undying Love For A Burning World, in which NEUROSIS have unleashed an album that just gets better with each listen and will undoubtedly stand the test of time and goes straight up there with NEUROSIS’ best, which is saying a lot.
NEUROSIS have always had a raging cathartic feel about their music but here, it goes completely off the scale. It is apocalyptic sounding from the moment opening track We Are Torn Wide Open utters its stark refrain over and over, and as it progresses it is in turns beautiful, in turns harrowing but always captivating and immersive. It feels like pure catharsis in sonic form and the lyric “we’ve forgotten how to live, so we suffer” from that opening refrain is a telling one.
Subsequent tracks like First Red Rays, Blind and Seething And Scattered are just as powerful, vast soundscapes that sound as vital as you would expect while the more streamlined Untethered is no less powerful and it all adds up to an intense but life affirming listening experience. Ultimately, the album is best personified by the penultimate track In The Waiting Hours, which is just sublime from stat to finish and contains everything you want and need from a NEUROSIS song.
An Undying Love For A Burning World concludes with the epic Last Light, which sounds like a ritualistic purge with Aaron Turner’s anguished yet commanding vocals sounding pivotal and urgent, and proves why he hits into NEUROSIS perfectly and with ease. This is a track that keeps on building and building, offering gentle reposted, while still cleansing your soul with its weighty grooves and is the perfect way to conclude this journey and the resurrection of NEUROSIS.
This album is one that sounds phenomenal from the get go and the more you listen to it, the more it will immerse your whole being. It is without doubt that NEUROSIS are back and this time they are even more powerful than before, almost exactly thirty years since the release of their seminal masterpiece Through Silver In Blood, the band bring light out of the darkness with An Undying Love For A Burning World.
Rating: 10/10
An Undying Love For A Burning World is available now via Neurot Recordings.
Like NEUROSIS on Facebook.