Maximum Metal Rating Legend

NEUROSIS THE EYE OF EVERY STORM NEUROT RECORDINGS reviewed by: Grim Gaijin

Track Listing1) Burn 2) No River To Take Me Home 3) The Eye Of Every Storm 4) Left To Wander 5) Shelter 6) A Season In The Sky 7) Bridges 8) I Can See You

For some, Neurosis is an acquired taste. Their doom laden metal riffs mixed with ambient textures, haunting vocals, and enough darkness to fill a white room, Neurosis has consistently given us crushing metal albums since the late 80's. With each album, Neurosis gets more experimental, the songs get longer but the message remains the same - an ultrasonic delivery of metal that continues to captivate dedicated fans, inspire new generations of experimental metalists, and capture the hearts (and ears) of new fans.

The Eye Of Every Storm continues on that same path of destruction, albeit different in sonic delivery. The Eye is your typical Neurosis album: song lengths ranging from 8:00 to 12:00 minutes long. Soothing landscape intros, breaks, fills and outros, creeping vocals, and an all out metal riff assault. However, this time around, Neurosis takes a turn to fine brutal beauty in more acoustic parts, more clear vocals from Steve Von Til, and more melodic turns than ever before. Does this mean Neurosis have lost their touch? Not at all! Although softer than their previous releases, the brutality lies within. For example, in the title track, Steve emits: "Your trail leads to a mine of cyanide and gold. A free falling darkness leads you to yourself". If that's not dark and deep, then I don't know what is.

On The Eye , you can expect hints of "A Sun That Never Sets", "Times Of Grace", & "Sovereign" , but don't expect it to spawn raging tendencies. This is the Neurosis CD that you should put in your headphones, kick back in a chair, and relax in the brutality of it all.


--Grim Gaijin 11.12.04