SOULS AT ZERO

I've had several musical epiphanies this summer, starting with Mastodon, moving on to Meshuggah and then through Tool, King Crimson and Dream Theater, finally happening upon Neurosis a few days ago after seeing them positively name checked far too widely not to have a punt on at least one of their CD'S.

In the end I went for two, this and 'A Sun that Never Sets', after listening to most of both albums via You Tube, a great place to find videos of most contemporary music, although the quality means you'll have to research further to get an idea of production values. Searching for just that sort of feedback was how I discovered Prog Archives's with its huge and diverse selection of reviews, which caters for the widest possible spectrum of music flagged as 'progressive'. Aside from the usual suspects, (Yes, Genesis, ELP) all the bands I've mentioned are listed on PA and data is generally plentiful, well presented and intuitive.

As platforms for candid and intelligent opinion, PA and similar resources have opened a whole new world for analysing, selecting and buying music and the wait for your CD'S helps creates a huge amount of anticipation while Amazon, et al do their stuff. So for me, impulse buying is a thing of the past, which you'd think would save money on a welter of rash, misguided purchases, but it doesn't work like that...I just buy more. But what the hell, it's all good...

I've had a bias for metal since I listened to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath as a teenager, although I'm still surprised at the relatively small percentage of my CD'S can really be classified as such. Nevertheless, my love of this genre comes with a caveat; it has to be a little more than screeching guitars ad infinitum and guttural vocals, simply because they're de rigueur. For the right way to do it you should refer to Mr Philip Anselmo who popularised them or listen to Jens Kidman of Meshuggah, whose percussive and explosive howls manage to convey rhythm and passion.

My taste, if not truly progressive must certainly be experimental, because most of the bands I like are listed on PA, even Sabbath, which brings me full circle and back to Neurosis. Souls at Zero got a couple of great reviews here and several on the Metal Archives, so I thought I'd go for a taster of Neurosis at both ends of their time-line; 'Souls at Zero' where they first moved away from hardcore punk and 'A Sun that Never Sets', where light and shade had become an essential part of the experience.

I got this today (22/12/08) and have only played it four times, so most aficionados would say that there's a ways to go with it yet, as the Neurosis experience is one of immersion, over time. But a couple of things were immediately interesting: first the cross-pollinated evolutionary path between some of the bands I've already mentioned; there are elements of Sabbath and King Crimson in Neurosis, the latter pleasantly manifested at the start of 'To Crawl Under One's Skin' and the smattering of violins and flutes elsewhere underlines KC'S significance. On the other hand Tool and Mastodon have flowered from seeds sown by Neurosis, Tool have shaped some wonderfully minimalist riffs that could have started life on Souls at Zero, while the authenticity and passion of Mastodon's concepts owe much to Neurosis's focus on control of quality and concept. As with all the best artists, borrowed ideas re-materialise fresh and new, so a great Sabbath riff drives a great Neurosis riff, evolves into a great Mastodon riff...something like that anyway!

This is a seminal piece of work, I really didn't think it would stand on its own so well, but so far every track is discovered anew with each play and I'm nowhere near saturation point. I've also not gone anywhere near the lyrics and to be honest I'm not a lyrics person anyway, for me emotion is how something is sung rather than what. Okay sung is stretching it a bit...

I'm going to finish off here; I've nowhere near found my feet with Neurosis, but I've got an idea it's going to be a rewarding experience. I'm going for 'excellent addition' rather than 'essential', as I think there are better albums from them around the corner and certainly greater experimentation. I think this is going to be too metal for many prog fans, but if you do like good metal in any way, shape or form, I'd urge you to give 'Souls at Zero' a go. The early rewards are plentiful and I think these will increase with every spin. Although I'm no expert, production quality is very good, with 90s dynamics rather than 00s compression.

I haven't (and won't) listen to the CD of 'A Sun that Never Sets' until I've had my fill of this, but from memory it's infinitely more apocalyptic and as that's the Neurosis adjective of choice, I'll be bound to overuse it in my review.

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