Neurosis, A Sun That Never Sets

Neurosis, A Sun That Never Sets (2001-Relapse Records)

So you think this is a metal album right? Well ok it could be to most people but it really is not metal. This band really started as a punk band. Over time the albums came out and the style changed. That is what a band should do so now album number seven is here.

The start of this album can be considered quite mellow or slow. But the contents are far from that, very well thought out and also constructed with amazing direction to consider pace and dynamics.

Big shout out to Steve Von Till on the vocals here. Amazing work and on track two "The Tide" he shows how it can be done. Nice slow speaking parts but with his voice showing the story. Acoustic guitars and violin build this into a stunning wall of noise. it is so easy to get lost in the first few tracks and even consider this album to being linked to heavy metal. You really do not notice the guitars here like on a typical metal outfit. That is why the album is chosen to be here. The textures and guitar sound are less than riffs but more harmonics. Amazing stuff, I don't know if it is just trained ears that hear this but it is a real treat to my ear drums.

At the time of the albums release the band were on a high commercially with the previous albums Through Silver and Blood and Times of Grace gaining positive reviews across the music industry and opening the band up to so many other fans (like me). So the next album could be expected to be the same but not so and this reviewer can still remember the day he got this on CD. One of those rare album where you go right back in for a listen. When on the bus I was not bothered about the congestion when I had this in the cd player. "From the Hill" has all the contents of the more noisy dynamics from the first track but slowed down. Nothing is rushed here and it again shows how good the band are at feeling what they want to do.

The title track helps give some melodic feel into the longest track here "Falling Unknown" reminds me of very early Cheap Trick mixed with an evil Thin Lizzy helping King Crimson tune up. A kind of rock start to the song thunders into more sound scape that build and build up. You never really care if it gets to the top and could be considered a little to long, but a band in this good shape has to be recorded.

The album has been listed in a folk metal category for the elements it contains. Very unusual to have violins and viola on a metal album but this really does help this album out in making it bigger. Also this was the first album the band made that had clean vocals, with the vocals rarely moving from the slow spoken style.

From this album on the Sludge metal seem to evolve into a very large part of metal music. Neurosis may not have ever wanted to be on MTV but some bands after them were very much helped by the contents of this album. This shows you do not need to sell out by becoming more pop or more radio friendly. Why not use popular art instead.

A Sun That Never Sets is available easily via Neurot Recordings

Twitter: 29xthefun 

Thin Lizzy, Black Rose

Thin Lizzy, Black Rose (Vertigo-1979)

So we have all heard the hits Whiskey in a Jar and The Boys Are Back in Town but most people have missed out on the bands best work and here it is.

With the hits being available on rock compilations I see why most people just skim over the bands catalog thinking they were the only good songs. But here is a chance to get a great rock album.

Opener "Do Anything You Want To" was that good it was a single and a great start. Nice big bass and drums hit you then that trademark twin Lizzy guitar riff comes in. This album welcomes Gary Moore to the studio recording for the first time in the bands history (he had replaced others on tour but left before recording twice). His blues sound is evident but not taking anything from the rock band at all. Riffs are less loud and more melodic. Add in Lynott on Bass the album has plenty of skill here.

"Toughest Street in Town" and " S and M" continue the great rock music and could all easily fill dance floors in any rock pub. "Waiting for an Alibi" has that guitar riffing back again with nice vocals and lyrics from Phil. Classic solos and guitar shapes follow here as well. The outro riff would make most want to pick up a guitar. Catchy and also very raw, the band were known for touring and this can still be heard in the production.

Phil Lynot shows his soft side in "Sarah" written about his newly born daughter. It is a nice slow one with little bits of mouth organ and nice 12 sting guitar. This was released as a single in 1979 and gained some alternative fans who think the band were all about hard rock.

The mellow and less musically serious side from Phil is evident in "Got to Give It Up" a song about his drug problems. You can hear it in his voice he sounds very much unhappy. Classic Lizzy guitars and a great chorus make you forget the real problems.

"Get Out of Here" was co wrote with Midge Ure and could be a small token to all the people who have left the band in the past (Ure was asked to finish the tour as Moore left). "With Love" follows nicely into "Róisín Dubh (Black Rose): A Rock Legend" the album has been named after this stunning song and it is a riff paradise.

The last song is all traditional songs given a rock arrangement. It really should not work but does and so well. The twin guitars work so well here that the reason they were invented is more of skill. For those who do not know why the band have two guitars playing the same riff, the band had and still did have problems with keeping guitar players. So Lynott hired two so that if one went he had another that meant live dates were able to be played. So so simple but it was never done before and let onto the birth of the twin guitar riffs the likes of Metallica and many more guitar bands after them done.

Listen to the song carefully and the lyrics are like a poem to all who are Irish or have have Irish roots. It is really just a tribute to Ireland with Black Rose slang for Ireland other things in the song are famous people from Ireland from James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, Oscar Wilde and Brendan Behan are all Irish authors referenced in this song in amazing ways. Van the man is Van Morrison, soccer man is George Best and many many other things. As said it is all done in a traditional style with four songs used in the whole seven minutes in that twin riffing and his voice it is amazing to listen to. It is like mixing a history lesson and a music lesson in one. Simply stunning and I have yet to hear anything replicate it.

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