Hi everyone, Scrollthony Moletano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new Neurosis album, An Undying Love for a Burning World.

Here we have a new and, at least for me, surprise album from sludge metal game-changers Neurosis, a West Coast loud rock act that started way back in the '80s and has since built up one of the most consistent and influential discographies in the underground. Not not only did they dish out multiple classics back in their heyday, like Souls at Zero, Enemy of the Sun, and Through Silver in Blood, but their impressive output beyond this point pretty much solidified them a forever spot in the doom metal/sludge metal Mount Rushmore, if there ever were to be one. The band really had it all, even pretty impressive late-era albums.

The last time I covered their work was back in 2016 with Fires Within Fires, which was a really enjoyable album for a band that had been doing it for like 30 years at that So, while at that time Neurosis very provably had a lot more gas left in the tank, in 2019 we received news that one of Neurosis's founding members, guitarist and vocalist Scott Kelly, abused his wife and children. And following this planned public admission, he was quickly dismissed from the band.

But now, in what is essentially a post-metal miracle, the band is back and now working with vocalist/guitarist Aaron Turner, who might as well be second in line in terms of importance with anything having to do with sludge metal, atmospheric sludge metal, post, or otherwise. Especially considering his founding of Hydra Head Records, the roles that he played in incredible groups over the years such as Isis, Old Man Gloom, Sumac most recently.

So, if Neurosis was going to add a new member to the fold in order to make a comeback, Turner is kind of like the dream pick of all dream picks. A pioneer and innovator in his own right, who is also obviously so deeply inspired by the groundwork that Neurosis laid before him, and his success is living proof of how great their ideas were. If anyone is going to add to the band's legacy positively, it's, it's gonna be him.

All things considered, An Undying Love is coming in with some pretty high expectations. You have this massive band with a great catalog making a return after hitting a dark patch. It has been 10 years since the release of their last album. And now you have this new member who comes in with a lot of experience, but also baggage. As I'm sure a lot a lot of listeners are coming into this record wondering what he's going to add to Neurosis's sound, how he might change the band's dynamics.

An Undying Love is a really ambitious and risky record for Neurosis, in all the best ways. I went into this thing, given Aaron Turner's inclusion, expecting maybe a bit more of a cleaner, more pristine, kind of post-metal-influenced aesthetic, or maybe something noisier and more avant-garde. But I'll say, at least for the start of this album, the band sticks to their sludge roots right out of the gate, pretty boldly, and makes it very clear what this album's core message is, too: that the current world we exist in is isolated, is torn apart, people are alienated from each other and themselves, and that is the root problem of the world right now, the crux of our collective suffering.

And agree or disagree, that is the thesis of the album, the feelings that are fueling this record, and Neurosis find a lot of logs to burn with that idea, with the crushing "Mirror Deep," the first full song on the project, which features some stupendously heavy guitars and bass laced with what sounds like these buzzing, sputtering analog synth textures. The sound is really dry, it's aggressive, it's Neurosis firing on all cylinders.

That is, until we hit one of many very moody synth and guitar passages on the record, this one being a great tone-setter because An Undying Love is nothing if not dynamic, as we go right back toward the end of the track into this spiral of grim chord progressions and riffs. Walls of sinister noise as well, with screeching tones and different members taking on call-and-response vocal duties. It's a very impressive and relatively punchy start to this album.

And what follows is "First Red Rays", which is a little bit more of what I expected from this record overall, as this is a very slow, patient monolith of a track, with some psych undertones coming off of these eerie, wailing melodies that have a strong vibrato to them. And this is some of the best and most immersive doom that I've heard in a minute.

I love not only the contrast between these intro sections of the song and the grittier, faster, more aggressive riff passages, but eventually the band moves into this very slow, dramatic series of synthesizer and very weepy guitar layers that honestly feels kind of like a Pink Floyd-coded moment. It's very progressive rock-inspired and pretty theatrical too. I will say, the only spot that really irks me is the chord change and vocal switch-up at the very, end of the track, which makes for a very short kind of cap on what is otherwise a very great and consistent song that's super engaging for pretty much all of the 8 minutes that it lasts.

The band then tops this track with the 9-minute "Blind", which features these strange slithering noises that are laced into the mix that perfectly complement these heavy psych riffs that have a bit of an exotic flair to them. And while this track is heavy and hard-hitting too, the band continues to lean into their prog influences as well, especially around the midpoint where we hit these apocalyptic synth passages that are paired with depressing low-key guitars and what sounds like bells too, some reverse tones. The song just has so much variation and an amazing flow too, and lyrics that further drive home this album's themes around humanity broadly suffering.

"Wounded, wounded. Will we heal or turn septic? Dreamless, dreamless. Distant sleep, we are weeping. Sorrow, sorrow. You know, it cuts us all the same. Longing, longing. Sacrifice and sever."

Now, it's at this point we have hit the middle of the record. Record, at least in terms of tracks. And I will say, for the first leg of this record, a lot of what we're hearing is hanging very firmly in esthetics and vibes that I think would be enjoyable to your average underground metal fan.

But then I think Neurosis's sound and approach changes considerably in the second half, even if the rest of the record still maintains a relatively heavy sound, because a lot of the riffs and drums and progressions start reading a lot more like they're coming off of a noisy, experimental rock record as opposed to a metal album. Think something like, y'know, late-era Swans, To Be Kind.

Which, it's important to remember, in the mid-2000s Neurosis did go out of their way to detour into a collab record with none other than Jarboe. And it's not like Aaron Turner isn't also, like, a Swans enjoyer too. So, in a way, I read a lot of An Undying Love from here as a bit of them sharing in that mutual love and appreciation.

Because with "Seething and Scattered" we have a lot of very direct lyrics, crunchy riffs, some primal tom work too, that all, again, reads like some very meditative, linear experimental rock, with these building layers of guitars and synths that just get bigger as the song progresses. It's a very solid, lengthy track with a very gratifying finish that I enjoy as somebody who typically digs into this sort of stuff.

I guess it'll just depend on whether or not Neurosis fans at this point in the band's career with Aaron Turner, want to hear them move in this direction. And make no mistake, even though this kind of sound may seem a little bit more repetitive on the surface, it is still very difficult to execute and requires a very high amount of band chemistry from not only everyone in Neurosis, but Aaron Turner fitting in with them as well. It's all pulled off without a hitch as this track moves through a series of very subtle progressions that keeps me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

"Untethered" is the shortest song on record at 4 minutes. It is relatively punchy, but there are some elements to it I'm not so crazy about, like these faux badass spoken word passages that I feel like are maybe a bit too much of a put-on or come off a little out of place with everything else here. These skipping tremolo tones that eat up a bit of an instrumental passage on the track, to me, are maybe a little too mild.

But then from here we move on to the album's two biggest tracks, a massive finale for the record. 10 and 16 minute runtimes back to back. And this is like really where the record is at its most magic, where Aaron and the band like really let whatever ideas they have to offer breathe and grow and sprawl. The opening of "In the Waiting Hours" reads like kind of the start of a very dreary slowcore track.

That is, before we are once again hit with these thunderous passages of riffs and bass and drums with more creepy synth textures that are so simple and yet continue to add so much, uh, to these tracks. And I especially love that sad, open little instrumental bridge toward the back end of the song too.

But then "Last Light" is obviously the grandest and most interesting switch-up on the entire record, as it starts with these humming and throbbing electronics that are paired with super dark lyrics and these screamed guttural vocal passages. And it's pretty much Neurosis taking an industrial approach to things, I'd say. I mean, hell yeah.

Even as the full band comes in and elevates this track with a heavier sound, it all maintains, like, a very tense vibe. That is, until they miraculously work in these very bright, almost hopeful chord progressions that really warm the track up with a righteous feel, which I just did not see coming. It's incredible. The band started off in such a dark, tense, and unruly place at the start of the song, but without making this change, this switch feel forced, or tacked on, or random, turn the vibe of this piece into something totally different.

And that sort of switch doesn't even happen just one time. This track actually undergoes at least a few impressive transitions, from choral passages to anthemic guitar sections. It really is a massive finish to this project, and the best progression of any song on the entire record, and really worth every second of its 16-minute runtime.

Overall I walked away from An Undying Love massively impressed with what Aaron Turner and Neurosis were able to pull off here. There are a few passages here and there that underwhelm me a bit, and again, I was not super crazy about "Untethered".

The record also comes across, in my view, a bit split between these two different vibes. And there are some moments where I wish that the extra additional synth layers on any given track could have been doing a little bit more to complement the guitar work. And then once we hit the finish and we hear this amazing fusion of experimental rock and metal and electronics too.

That just really had me thinking, "Whoa, we could have been going this crazy for the entire record." That is such a great track, in my opinion, that it almost makes the songs that feel almost standard for Neurosis come across maybe a bit too predictable or safe.

Again, really great album though, and just supremely happy to hear that Neurosis, even after all these changes and all this time, still have the capability to come out with one of the most impressive albums in their catalog in a long time, which is why I'm feeling a strong 8 on this thing.

Anthony Fantano. Neurosis. Forever.