Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood (9 tracks) +Album Reviews

Dark, eerie, apocalyptic, and utterly brilliant.

James Cox | Rumson, NJ | 04/25/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well I can't even begin to describe how amazing this album is. But first of all, it should be noted that this is not music for people who just LISTEN to music. That's right, this is music you EXPERIENCE, or just get lost into. Neurosis aren't concerned with showing you complex and technical musicianship. They are talented on a whole other level. They have an uncanny ability to create a desolate, creepy, and trance-inducing atmosphere among the monsterous riffs and ambient uses of sound. The three vocalists are some of my favorite vocalists around in metal. Two of them use an eerie tortured yell that sounds very powerful. The third has a deep grunt that contrasts the somewhat higher vocals of the other two. The way they use the three vocalists is brilliant. The album also has a certain flow like no other. Without a track indicator (like on your cd player), or if you aren't paying careful attention, it is very easy to get lost in the midst of this cd. You might not be able to tell what song or track you are on. This is a brilliant technique that is accomplished by making the tracks flow and merge into each other with soft interlude-like sounds and intros. And the 2 interlude tracks add to this technique and the atmosphere very effectively.I love all of the tracks on this cd. But I would like to make a special note of the final 3 (or 4 if you count the interlude track). "Strength of Fates" is probably my favorite song on the album.... words cannot describe how eerie this track is. It starts out with nothing but haunting and cryptic sound samples that pass right by you very quickly to start a very unsettling atmosphere. A piano is added as well as some soft singing in the distance. The song builds and builds, and unleashes with a frightening amount of fury for the finale. "Aeon" has an incredible intro using strings and a piano before becoming another heavy track. It goes to a soft interlude before coming back and going into trance mode. It sounds like the end of the world. And finally, an apocalyptic track if there ever was one, "Enclosure in Flame" ends the album. It sounds like Aeon has exhausted all life from the album and Enclosure in Flame is a grueling attempt to squeeze out what little life the cd has left. The result is a torturus track, probably the darkest track I have ever heard in my life. Truly post apocalyptic.I could go on forever about the how I feel when listening to this cd. If you've gone past the point of just LISTENING to music, than I couldn't recommend this CD more. Easily one of my favorite bands and cd's of all time."

Restrained Then Unleashed

Michael J Harper | Covina, CA United States | 07/13/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Restrained, Heavy, Chugging, Tortureing, "Tribal Metal"... Beautiful
Neurosis are a band that care so much for what they say with thier words and with the visualy and audiotistically profound stage they present with their music. Any fan of them will forever be a fan. This band is filled with a respect for mother nature and human life that few bands will ever embrace.
Neurosis sound like a restrained freight train of mind opening brilliance. And when that train hits you you are derailed from the frustration of the closed minds that harbor conciousness, you can remember yourself long enough to admire your own endeavors. This album is thier greatest album amongst the other awesome albums they make.
If you like this album try others by Neurosis namely: "Enemy of the Sun" and "Souls At Zero"
Neurosis are definitive of musical taste and integrity. And they are not for people who like their music soft!
Also try "Isis", another band of real character influenced by Neurosis."

Wow... close to perfect.

Robert P. Beveridge | Cleveland, OH | 03/20/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Neurosis, Through Silver in Blood (Relapse, 1996)Relapse continues to show it's the best label in America dedicated to releasing metal, consistently producing top-notch discs by bands that push the envelope. Neurosis has been one of those bands for a lot of years now.Through Silver in Blood, the band's fifth full-length disc, combines straight-ahead metal, vocals that tread lightly into hardcore territory, epic structuring (four songs either approach or exceed ten minutes, none of them with Eric Clapton-ish extended bits that have nothing to do with the song's overall structure), and actual dynamics. Yes, there are soft bits!The lyrics are a bit, well, twee ("Our destiny awaits/Survival of our wrath/The frigid apparition/Waits silently transcendent..." from "Purify," for example), but that's not terribly unsurprising on an album so top-heavy with mystical topics. But then, Steve von Till's shattered-glass-filled throat is going to make most of them unintelligible to you until you've listened to the disc enough that the music has you utterly captivated.One of the better metal albums in my collection. Almost on a par with Elhaz' The Black Flame. **** ½"

Can't say i've heard this before

Carl J. Pitlick | the wastelands | 12/19/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"i must say, Neurosis is one of the most original and unique bands i've heard in a long time. i hated them the first time i heard them. just sounded like a bunch of artsy-fartsy noise with some fuzzed guitar and tribal drumming. but then i got hooked on a few songs of theirs, bought this and then BAM... i finally realized how incredible they are. i don't quite understand why so many people label them "hardcore." i can't say i enjoy ANY hardcore band, yet Neurosis is incredible. to be honest, Neurosis is one onf those bands that you can almost classify, but then they suprise you with something that breaches any limitation you can put on them. they are as close to hardcore as they are euro-pop. many will never really get this band, and i see why. they are a little strange, they do require some patience. however, for those who openly endure those first few listens, the rewards of Neurosis are endless."

For All Who are Sick of Deathcore

Quentin Tarantino Fan | nowhere | 08/08/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sludge Metal, heck yeah! Neurosis is a big influence on bands such as Isis and Mastodon, and you can hear it. But what makes Neurosis different from those bands? A ______load. While Mastodon (don't know much about Isis) is good, Neurosis is a lot more original and refreshing sounding to these ears, especially because this record's sound is pretty shiny to these ears (this stuff so far? I like it!), having not much experience with slower metal (and there is a ton of genres out there that are slower, I know).

Through Silver in Blood is CRUSHING. Huge, sludgy riffs, deep brooding bass, tribal drumming. The dynamics and vocal really do it as well. Songs start out slow, build up with plenty of time to breath, and EXPLODE with riffs, shouts, screams, and surging bass lines. Whether or not Through Silver in Blood is the most crushing album ever is an opinion of choice, but even if it isn't the most crushing album, it won't save the fact it's crushing in general.

And there is no denying that there is at atmosphere. Yes, morons won't be able to see it, but it is. Apocalyptic, Tribal, Mayan civilization doing things, lot's of cool stuff done easily by this music. When listening to the first track, the atmosphere that conjures up the end of the world in the jungle in the moonlight, fire in the sky, easily done. Enclosure in Flames easily lives up to the title. The two tracks pack quite a punch in their five minute run. Strength of Fates is soft for most of it, then explodes like a bomb. The two interludes are great as well, and are worthy as any of the track on here.

And keeping up with the music are the lyrics. They add to the atmosphere and music, and while don't exactly make sense, it works in making the song come to life even more, given the theme of the album. And there are some piano, samples, and other instruments in the mix, to a great effect. Really, just a great job using all of what they got, with hardly any filler within songs.

Don't worry if Through Silver and Blood doesn't quite sound good on the first listen, when I first bought it, despite hearing some of the tracks online, was highly disappointed. But I then learned of it's many traits, it's brooding atmosphere, and acquired some tastes along the way after listening. This one is a essential purchase for metal fans, who want something beyond monotonous blast beats, or speed in general.

9/10"

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