NEUROSIS - Given To The Rising

On a par with, or perhaps even above, Tool, Neurosis enjoy boundless esteem among rock audiences. Emerging from the ashes of metal as it crumbled following its encounter with hardcore, they redrew its DNA with essential works such as "Through Silver in Blood" (1996, Relapse) and "The Eye Of The Storm" (2004, Relapse). Compared to the liquid, dense sound of their recent output, "Given To The Rising" is in part a return to the past, picking up the thread left off with the monolithic "Times Of Grace" (1999, Relapse). To put it simply, it's a case of 'less drone, more sharp, direct riffs' — though across the album's 70-minute running time there's still room for evocative, atmospheric moments (the intro to "To The Wind" is spectacular).

"Given To The Rising" opens with the nine-minute title-track charge: a manifesto of power and rage that reaches its apotheosis in the long finale. Even more monolithic and Sabbath-esque is the wall of sound on "Fear And Sickness", with Stiv Von Still determined to scream his lucid disillusionment at the world. The world is in ruins, and Neurosis chronicle its collapse. The synchrony between drums, bass and guitars is flawless. Not a single cog is out of place, and every detail is meticulously crafted. Credit certainly goes to the usual dry, minimal production by Steve Albini, but above all to the tightness Neurosis have achieved after so many years together. A true war machine.

The debris left in the wake of "Fear And Sickness" is partly covered by the delicate intro to "To The Wind", the most melancholic moment on the whole album, where Neurosis's kinship with post-rock lineage surfaces. But it's only a fleeting moment before the vortex of darkness and electricity wraps everything back into eternal night. There's no escape from the black hole Neurosis describe: civilization as we know it is doomed. All that's left is the need to scream it to whoever can still hear.

Stiv takes a breather with the brief "Shadow", where his cavernous voice intones a bleak tale over a drone that drags on aimlessly. "Hidden Faces" has all the hallmarks of a heavy classic: riffs, tempo and power. Live, it will become one of the band's warhorses.

More dark, Sabbath-esque riffs open "Distill", one of the album's later tracks. The two minutes of experimentation on "Nine" set up the grand finale of "Origin", eleven minutes and forty-nine seconds in which the best qualities of the Neurosis entity are distilled.

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30/04/2026