Now into their fourth decade of making emotional,spiritual and simply brilliant noise, Neurosis continue to prove (not that we really doubted them) to be in exceptionally rude health. Fires Within Fires (Neurot Recordings) arrives fully formed and brilliantly realised. This is Neurosis’s eleventh album and although it’s early days, it stands easy comparison with their very best.
Whilst this new record may be only five tracks in length, Neurosis have delivered forty minutes of astonishing music: basically, this a blunt force aural trauma. Fires Within Fires feels like a band completely in control, happy with their art if not their lot and still pulverizingly tight and noxious. This is as raw as anything they have made in years.
The familiar musical tropes that we have come to love from this band (and love them we most assuredly do) are in full effect here: the juxtaposition of moody, atmospheric soundscapes allied to pounding, punishing passages of aural brutality; the dark psycho-dramas of “The American Dream” gone seriously awry; the eternal love of the riff all play their part. This is an album where not one note of music feels forced or superfluous. The attention to detail is astonishing. The driven, riff-soaked ‘Fire is the End Lesson’ is hypnotic and immersive; ‘Broken Ground’ heads straight for that part of your brain that forces you to want to headbang but it feels organic and natural and just, well, right. Across the entire record, their ability to bring together different styles and moods is nigh on peerless and you’re left with only more love and admiration for this band. Some cap doffing must also go to producer/engineer Steve Albini who has done a superior job in capturing their unique essence.
Fires within Fires is Neurosis at their focussed and refined best. This is a record that is brilliantly constructed and emotionally delivered. In much the same way that Tool seem incapable of making bad or uninteresting records, Neurosis have found their way into the same rarefied atmosphere. Fires within Fires is a brilliant record by a brilliant band: welcome back, gentlemen, welcome back.
8.5/10
MAT DAVIES
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