Neurosis - Through Silver and Blood (1996)

Imagine living through a nuclear catastrophe. All that was around you now lies in ruins. Imagine moving amidst the devastation, alone, a wandering nomad roaming the bleak landscape. There is nothing but you and your slowly deteriorating sanity. You can hear the sound of impending doom. You know your death is approaching and you know it is unavoidable. Only utter, torturous, despair awaits you. This is the sound of Neurosis.

I still distinctly remember when I had first heard Through Silver in Blood. The only metal I had heard up to that point had been bands like Metallica and Slayer. I originally picked up the album because the name sounded cool and I loved the cover art, but nothing could prepare me for the hell storm I was about to witness. I became entranced by their absorbing, tortured, and melancholic sound; it was unlike anything I had ever heard before.

The tracks on the album are composed of sludgy riffs, distorted bass playing, berserk tribal drumming, eerie ambiance, and tortured shrieks all drenched in a layer of thick, fuzzy sludge. Never has such a feeling of utter hopelessness ever been portrayed in music as it has been portrayed here. Though Neurosis is not just about bombastic blasts of noisy sludge, but also about eerie ambient sections that play off the louder ones. This creates a feeling of rising tension before the jarring noise. They create a bleak atmosphere that is at the same time filled with an intense feeling of uneasiness.

This album was definitely meant to be listened to as a whole, as Neurosis creates an almost hypnotic listening experience. They are able to play a section for just the right amount of time to mesmerize you, but not bore you, something many artists fail to do. Just as you are being hypnotized by a repeating sludgy riff, the band shifts gears, throwing you into a cacophony of jarring noise and tortured shrieks or a vast ambient soundscape that is both beautiful and unsettling.

If there was any one single standout track on this album, it would have to be the opening title track. Some bands create musical universes with their complete work or with an album. Neurosis manages to do that with a single song.

There are few artists that are able to create as much emotional tension as Neurosis does and Through Silver and Blood showcases them playing at their loudest and most intense. It is, in my opinion, their finest album and one of the greatest metal albums of all time.

In short, fucking amazing.

v0
Buy

Oblivians - Popular Favorites (1996)

I've been recommending this band for a long time now on the Vesti to someone who is even remotely interested in Rock or Punk, and have a been a favorite of mine for a while now.

The trio's musical-chairs approach to instrumentation makes it nearly impossible to keep track of who has the mic at any given moment, but despite the juggling act, the record maintains a cohesive sense throughout. Marked by abrasive guitars that call to mind everyone from the Gibson Bros. and Junior Kimbrough to the New Bomb Turks or Lazy Cowgirls, the Oblivians' dirty rock calls to mind images of panicked parents in the 1960s trying to shield their children from the evil powers of rock & roll. Well, everyone knows who won that battle. Mixed among the riotous guitar treble and gruff vocals are songs with universal themes like "Guitar Shop Asshole" and "You Fucked Me Up, You Put Me Down." Though the back cover boasts that "There never was a sound like this before," spinning discs by acts like the Mummies, 68 Comeback, Iggy & the Stooges, or Them Wranch will prove otherwise, but who's complaining? If you dig through the record collection of any self-respecting rock & roller (or the list of bands who influenced acts like the White Stripes or the Strokes), odds are there'll be at least one Oblivians opus (or Oblivians spin-offs, like Jack Oblivian's Compulsive Gamblers or Greg Oblivian's Reigning Sound). In a move typical of the hipsters over at Crypt, the album cover art is half the fun. An overlooked classic, the cover of Popular Favorites is a photo of concertgoers wherein a guy and gal in matching Black Sabbath t-shirts are standing next to a mulleted young man proudly displaying a homemade t-shirt that reads "Kill a Punk for Rock & Roll."

Oblivians 'The Leather'
Oblivians 'The Milkshake'

Try it
Buy it
Wiki
Myspace