southern records

'Given To The Rising' is a career landmark album for a band who have influenced and inspired a new generation, including Isis, Mastodon, Sepultura and Cult Of Luna, to name a few.

This is some of Neurosis' most raw and immediate material to date, it is also more complexly orchestrated than their past works and richly thickened with psych-damaged overtones. 'Given To The Rising' is more than a just a powerful collection of songs -- it's like a religious experience. While personal epiphanies are repeatedly told by those who've been converted by Neurosis' sensory overloading live shows as well as their recordings, there's a hypnotic quality to this album that takes hold from the opening wail of guitars on track one.

"We stand encircled by wing and fire" growls vocalist/guitarist Scott Kelly in the opening of the album, the band's heels already dug deep in the dirt blasting forth in all directions at once. The guitars grunt and groan like sinister beasts on "Fear and Sickness", propelled by drummer Jason Roeder's clever rhythmic shifts delivered by thunderous, rollicking tom beats that lunge into half-time thumping kick drum and snare blasts. "To The Wind" opens with a deceptively delicate, albeit forlorn melody unlike anything we've come to expect from the band, this is abruptly choked off at the two-minute mark by one of the most brutally sudden shifts of mood and tempo. A slight, barely audible growl hints at the change to come, and when a wall of chiming bent-notes and drop-tuned sludge guitars - paired with a stomping beat - erupt over the melody it's a truly monolithic impact. Bassist Dave Edwardson slings heavy low-end distortion over the top with howling bent notes adding powerful harmonic overtones. But, perhaps the highlight of the song comes during a brief respite, when Kelly lets out an astounding 29-second-long throat-curdling scream at the song's climax. Steve Von Till's rasping whisper sounds downright haunting over the rhythmic churn and keyboardist Noah Landis' syrupy tones on "Hidden Faces" prove ample evidence to the band's latest evolutionary step. "Through eyes of the wheel I will see you coming," Von Till howls, the band erupting in consensus.