Neurosis
An Undying Love for a Burning World
(Neurot Recordings)
4.5/5
When I was a teenager—over 20 years ago—a friend gave me a burned copy of Oakland-based post-metal band Neurosis’ third album, Souls at Zero, released in 1992. It was love at first listen. It was just what my teenage anger and angst had been craving.
It’s now been a decade since the release of their last album, Fires Within Fires, and on March 20, they sent An Undying Love for a Burning World into the world with absolutely no fanfare; since I’ve not grown any less angry or angsty, I’m thrilled.
They were down a guitarist/vocalist after firing Scott Kelly after he admitted to abuse toward his wife and family (good riddance), so they did the only thing that makes any sense: they hired Aaron Turner. I love his other bands (Sumac, the very Neurosis-influenced Isis), and this seemed to be the perfect fit. And is it ever.
The album starts strong with “We Are Torn Wide Open,” which sounds like aliens from a hellish planet coming to blow up Earth, and I’m here for it. They then fall into a bludgeoning, harsh succession of rage and beauty and terror that feels like your bones are being crushed under an uncaring global system, and you’ve just heard the call to fight back. It’s great and makes me want to join the Weather Underground.
By the time you reach the midway point of the album, “Seething and Scattered,” the aliens from hell are back, and you’re on their side, plotting against this brutal planet we call home.
The last track on the album, “Last Light”—which clocks in at almost 17 minutes—is a gritty, beautiful, lament for a world in flames; however, their use of major chords and climbing progressions reminds us that there’s still hope, even as the last light is waning.