HONOR FOUND IN DECAY

"Honor Found in Decay" is the 11th full-length studio album by US sludge/post metal act Neurosis. The album was released though Neurot Records in October 2012. Since the release of "Given to the Rising (2009)", the band members have taken part in various other projects. Especially frontman Scott Kelly has been busy working on both the "Shrinebuilder (2009)" album and his 3rd full-length solo album "The Forgiven Ghost In Me (2012)".

The music on "Honor Found in Decay" is slow paced, heavy/doomy and atmospheric metal. Call it sludge, post-metal or doom, the fact of the matter is that it's dark and brick heavy. The heavy riffs are often layered with atmospheric effects, samples and keyboards. The drums often have a tribal feel to them, which provides them with an adventurous sound. To top it off you got the raw yet not completely non-melodic vocals by Scott Kelly. He is the kind of vocalist that bleeds harsh life experiences and authenticity and his distinct sounding vocals and convincing delivery bring a lot to the music.

The 7 track, 60:47 minutes long album is a dark journey and a leasson in how to create heavy and atmospheric music, that while it is at times hypnotically repetitive (check out the closing minutes of "My Heart for Deliverance"), it's still entertaining, and most of the time the repetition serves a justified atmospheric purpose. The only track on the album I feel is slightly sub par to the rest is "Casting of the Ages". That track just hasn't won me over yet. Fortunately the rest of the tracks are brilliant and as with most of Neurosis output, they grow on you with repeated listens. A track like the above mentioned "My Heart for Deliverance" is simply brilliant, but also "At the Well" and the more experimental "Bleeding the Pigs" score high in my book.

While "Honor Found in Decay" is probably not an album that'll surprise fans of the band, it's still obvious that Neurosis are as creative and determined as ever. They not only write intriguingly structured and damn heavy and atmospheric music, they also deliver that music with a burning passion that's admirable. Releasing consistently great and interesting albums for so many years is not an easy task. So upon conclusion "Honor Found in Decay" is another great album in a long line of great albums, featuring strong songwriting, great musicianship and in this case an organic sound production that suits the music well. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.