Neurosis - Sovereign + BONUS TRACKS + VISUALS

The final installation of Neurosis Times of Grace after the release of the companion album Grace by Tribes of Neurot, which was created to be played simultaneously with the parent album (in the Halo-Guattarri post I had mentioned a particular sample from that great album...) is the Sovereign EP, which takes its cue from the last track of Times of Grace called "The Road to Sovereignty" and expands on that track's mood. Times of Grace was to be Neurosis' last "loud" album for some years, as from Sovereign up to The Eye of Every Storm they became quieter and more subdued or "neurotic." And actually after they decided to become louder again with Given To The Rising, they started sucking unbelievably, and the three albums they've released since then are godawful and the epitome of what happens when you decide to play "metal."

Anyway, Sovereign paves the way for the style they fully explored on A Sun That Never Sets, and possesses a similar sound with lots of acoustic guitar and the clear production of Steve Albini, which, although quite good for others, sounds too clean for me for Neurosis. Let's see what he'll do with the forthcoming Sunn O))) album.

The main interest of Sovereign though is the four bonus track that were only found on the cd-rom part of the cd. For some reason when I decided to make this post, the cd-rom part was no longer playable due to changes in their website or some shit, and the only thing I could retrieve was some visuals. I emailed them to see if they could send me the tracks, never got a reply, but fortunately I found them on a dvd-r where I had saved them. Phew. Of these four tracks, only one has made to other releases, and more particularly "Misgiven," which was included in the remastered release. 2000 cd on Neurot Recordings.

Happy new year!

Neurosis - Sovereign the bonus tracks

Neurosis - Sovereign the actual album

Neurosis - Sovereign the visuals 

Marzuraan ‎– Live At Least cdr

Live is where Marzuraan is at it! While in the studio they play very thick sludgy doom, they still sound kinda lukewarm, but in a live environment it sounds appropriately crushing, what with relentless crash cymbal banging and a heavy bass tone by Lee Stokoe to accompany free form guitar apocalypse. 2005 cdr on Traqueto.

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Giant - Song cd

One of the last good albums of the genre that came to be called "post-metal" (yeah dude when Isis broke out we named this experimental sludge or whatever, post-metal my ass), a genre that too quickly deteriorated into post-rock and Toolish stupidity(with Isis going that way too), Giant played heavy and mournful epic doom with a good sense of melody and dynamics that avoid the shoegazy style of many post metal bands. After a naming dispute they morphed into Braveyoung and abandoned this style along with metal in general and played great orchestral post-rock, and ended last year with the masterpiece Misery And Pride. Now they continue as MSC in a similar fashion, albeit with a more electronic bend, I think. Best track here is number two, "Calvin," an amazingly melancholic but kind of heartening dirge with beautiful lyrics. 2006 cd on Southern Empire.

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Teeth Of Lions Rule The Divine ‎– Rampton cd

Not like that this is a rare album but I'm not sure whether it exists in 320 kbps so there you go. TOLRTD (named after the same-titled track by Earth) is a gathering of four mammoths of doom/sludge/drone, Stephen O' Malley and Greg Anderson of Sunn O))) on guitar and bass respectively, Lee Dorrian of Cathedral on vocals, and Justin Greaves of Iron Monkey/Electric Wizard/Crippled Black Phoenix on drums. The result is just mouth-opening. Take the deafening soul-emptying guitar drone of Sunn O))), mix it with the drum torturing strikes of Greaves (of course he is undoubtedly the greatest drummer in the genre) and get Dorrian on top in his one of his best performances ever, singing in a threatening and ominous style, far away from the hippyish shit of late 1990s Cathedral (maybe he was in a heavy doom mood, as Cathedral had just released the crushing Endtyme at that point), and you get an awesome classic of doom/drone. First track is a pun on Queens of The Stone Age's "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" with drug references and all, second track is a top-notch cover of fuckin' Killdozer's "New Pants and Shirt" and track three is an amazing ritual doom classic with church organ and all that borders on Thergothon worship. i used to listen to this as a teenager with my then-girlfriend after sex and the heaviness really emptied any energy that had been left after coming. Isn't all this convincing enough? 2002 cd on Rise Above.

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Marzuraan - Solid State cd

Can a band that has chosen an Old Lady Drivers song title for their name not be good? Possibly the heaviest doom album to have come out of the UK since Electric Wizard's Come My Fanatics, this features Lee Stokoe and it contains crawling doom/sludge with a lo-fi sound. Whereas the Wizard focused on crushing doom riffs, Marzuraan has a more improvisational bend and noise leanings. There is only one track with vocals, "Death Dirge Has Come," which features one of the scariest vocal performances ever, only comparable with Edgy of Burning Witch and Alan Dubin of Khanate. Plus, nice artwork by Stephen O' Malley. 2004 cd on Traqueto.

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