The 13th Best Album of the 00s: Neurosis - "A Sun That Never Sets" (2001)

I had an idea for what this post would contain, but then I read a single sentence about Neurosis here which knocked me on my ass, as it summed up everything: "The cerebellum gets all the credit, but this music comes from the stomach."

Neurosis aren't an unintellectual band, far from it - any interview proves these guys knows their shit. But when it comes to their music they act purely on instinct, if it comes naturally and feels right, it is right, end of discussion. A point driven home by the fact that they don't spend ages in the studio fiddling with details like a bunch proggers - most of their recordings are done live with only vocals, samples and other instrumentation (which can be anything from violins to bagpipes) added after the fact.

And in doing so they manage to tap into something completely primal and spiritual, almost animal, that only a handful of bands active today can even come close to it. Their music is pure energy and pure emotion, it's the reptilian brain speaking. It's from the earth itself, a call from an ancient wilderness, the undiluted raw forces of the universe channeled through five weather torn men from California that look like they just stepped right out of Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man or any novel by Cormac McCarthy.

This is music meant to be absorbed, not analysed. You don't listen to Neurosis, you experience them. If you can't get into Neurosis it's probably because you're trying too hard to understand what they're doing and why.

"The cerebellum gets all the credit, but this music comes from the stomach"... Goddamn, that is so fucking good.

(mp3) Neurosis - The tide
(mp3) Neurosis - A sun that never sets
(mp3) Neurosis - Stones from the sky

Buy A Sun That Never Sets @ Amazon.com.