Just to get it out of the way- Neurosis rules.  Rules!  Every album is a goddamned masterpiece, a churning wall of sound, at times melancholy, existential, brooding, but always heavy, so frickin heavy.  In fact, if I was to sum up their sound in one word that’d be it:  HEAVY.  But one word isn’t nearly descriptive enough so I’d need like an extra paragraph or two to do them justice.  There is a weight to their music that most groups spend their entire lives trying to rip off.  Every note matters, every tempo shift serves a deeper purpose.  Everything they do is so calculated, leading to an insane level of consistency going on nearly three decades now.  Seriously, they are great.  And if you haven’t heard of them or haven’t listened in a while, get off this site right now, apologize, and buy their stuff!  You won’t regret it.  For a quick starting point, Eye of Every Storm is one of my favorite albums of all time.  So good.

I bring this up because Steve Von Till, the guy behind today’s review entry, is their erstwhile guitarist and one of their vocalists.  His solo albums have explored that same ponderous, glacial sound but from an acoustic perspective.  Mostly him playing some minimalistic guitar with a bit of keyboards, drums, and his ever present, raspy voice floating around on top.  The albums are almost like Neurosis from a parallel universe, one where electric guitars and power chords were never invented.  They are great, of course- my favorite being A Grave Is a Grim Horse.  

Which brings us to his new effort, No Wilderness Deep Enough.  He went in a different direction this time but ended up in the same awesome place- the guitars and drums have been mostly replaced with layers of synth and piano.  The songs on this album sound almost like chamber music with his recognizable vocals soaring on top- listening to this album in its entirety is like going to the world’s most badass church during a eulogy.  The somber, slow pace of the songs, the simple (but very layered) compositions really bring out his voice.  So it’s very similar to his last works but it uses totally different instruments to get there,, which speaks to how well Mr. Von Till is able to articulate his musical vision here.  His vocals are a bit looser too, at times singing right along with the lilting pianos that peak their little somber heads up from below every now and then.  If you are a Neurosis fan you already know all of this, but if not I encourage you to check this album out.  I feel like this is a great album to listen to whilst having bad coffee, watching rain droplets form on the window, thinking about happy families and wondering what happened to the life you thought you were guaranteed twenty years ago.  See, now you’re in the mood for it 🙂