THE EYE OF EVERY STORM

Neurosis is not a band that would come to mind if I were to name my top 10 or 20 artists going around. For the most part, I've found it difficult to get into most of their sizeable collection of works.

There's a notable exception with 2004's "The Eye of Every Storm". This is one of my favourite albums, and the best I heard in that year.

The album opens with "Burn", a track that begins with great percussion and tortured guitar over the top. The opening lyric sets the tone for the album. "You lie in the snow, cold but not dead". After a few minutes the track makes a transition to some wonderful atmospherics and whispered vocals. Scott Kelly is sublime in his vocal delivery on this album, and this section exemplifies it perfectly. As he warns "Don't let it steal your eyes" the music ramps up again for a great crescendo.

"No River to Take Me Home" continues in the same vein with a slow, melancholic guitar riff leading into the first of several passages in the song. As with the opening track there is a quiet section with whispered vocals used to great effect. The last few minutes comprise of another plodding, catchy guitar riff that trails off to silence.

Track 3 is the title track and it's a gem, full of briliant atmospherics and once again amazing vocal delivery. A hunted outcast hurtles into an oncoming tempest. Simply mesmerizing. Once again there are a number of passages in this song as the journey is played out. As things quieten at around 5 minutes, synths surge to the forefront. They are like the steadying heartbeat of the protagonist as he calms himself for what lies ahead. In the final passages we're told "Time brings them all home to the eye of every storm".

"Shelter" is a gorgeous instrumental that carries on the theme of the album perfectly.

Then we're presented with what I believe is the centrepiece of the album. "A Season in the Sky" begins with solemn guitars setting the mood. As I listen, I can almost feel the sand under my feet and the desert night sky above. Scott Kelly delivers the lyrics almost as spoken word for most of the track. I could quote the whole song, but will restrict myself to this: "I drifted silently to the desert and began to pray. I came to a pile of ashes and sifted through it looking for teeth." Wonderfully evocative, and when combined with that desolate guitar, simply amazing. When the rest of the band kicks in there's no respite from the heartwrenching mood that has been established. The distorted guitars are as heavy as lead and further crush the listener under the weight of this monstrous track.

This is an album about being lost and alone, cold and desolate, in an unforgiving wilderness with no way out. There's a stark beauty chiselled out of this hopelessness that is nothing short of breathtaking.

For those who love music that paints a picture inside the mind, and that transports one away to somewhere else, it doesn't get better than this.