Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood (1996) Reviews

To my dismay, Neurosis decided to continue the more Industrial, tribal direction they explored on Enemy of the Sun. Gone are the Doomy leads and emotive atmospheres from Souls at Zero and the songs here employ overly repetitive, sample and industrial based soundscapes that end up boring and numb more than anything. The base rock music is bare and simple, and industrial noises are overlayed to give it the illusion of density and complexity, but a slightly focused mind will notice these same noises repeating over and over and over, gnawing away at one’s patience as they fail to build anything epic or moving.

Each transition basically switches one repeating industrial noise/sample for another, alternating between way-too-boring plodding drums or tribal beats. The guitars do little aside from add fuzzy ambiance in many places, what riffs remain are usually boring and uninspired.

The album is also filled with boring song sections or interludes of just samples and noise, breaking up the boring music with even more boring sections of people talking.

For how long and “varied” the songs are, they never seem to go anymore. What’s more, while it is arguably a very negative and oppressive album, it doesn’t really build any mood or convey emotion very well. It’s just a lot of plodding around, fuzz, and tribal madness that mashes together and comes out a dull gray on the other end.

It has literally took me years to engage with Neurosis.  To date that engagement has solely been via this release as I have toiled and tried to figure out the appeal in this complex mix of post-hardcore, sludgey progression and emotional tumult.  In the first instance I couldn't get past the vocals.  Not being a fan of hardcore vocals, it was hard to try and focus their relevance in the musical direction which felt often far removed from the environment that I struggled with them in anyway.

My best analogy for this record (if I can call it an analogy) is kind of hard to express but I will do my best.  It's like walking into a room with an already ongoing conversation in play. Initially you engage and nod along in agreement and acknowledgement of the content, but then you notice there's an undertone to the conversation, that your jovial engagement is not entirely appropriate. You start to realise that there's something darker and melancholic to the detail and unfortunately (although you may not like all of what you hear) it feels rude to pull away and so you end up involved as opposed to just engaged. Before long you can't tear yourself away and before you know it you're too engrossed to want to leave.

This is a dark record, made from dark times and dark experiences.  Disorientating and oppressive in equal amounts the album can leave the head of the average listener spinning for days on end.  Kelly's addiction challenges and homelessness bleed through into the songs and by his own admission Von Till was going through some shit at the time.  The album as a result speaks to the listener on multiple levels, embracing the "post" aspects of the sound to the extent of defining a landmark release for the genre but at the same time balling the other elements - already mentioned in this review - into a tight and volatile blend of music that promises release and reflection on how the hardest of times can result in the most touching of music.

Now I am over my vocal challenges, I can see beneath that initial contentious surface.  What lies beneath is immersive and enticing even though it makes no attempt to be pretty or pleasant.  Some twenty four years after the initial release, Through Silver In Blood strikes a complex chord with me, but one that I am still happy to have finally discovered.

I have a history with this album. This is what I think of when I think of Sludge for better or worse. Every couple of years when I go down my music rabbit holes I always see this album pop up on best of lists of various types. To this day I'm not sure why. Maybe because it is unique in it's own way, but going through all of the sludge albums lately there really isn't anything here in my opinion that stands out. It's more unusual I guess, with elements of industrial, punk, hardcore, and various other genres that it seems most sludge albums I've been listening to try to do something similar and maybe this is where they got the idea. There could be a lot to dissect here if you're interested, but to me listening it feels like they threw everything at the wall to see what sticks. Many does stick, and someone more invested than I can get a lot out of this but this is not for me.