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Neurosis - Souls At Zero Reissue

by Dan Upton

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Given my interest in post-metal, it's a bit of a travesty that it's taken me this long to go back to Neurosis' Souls At Zero. The band's third CD, Souls At Zero was an introduction to what post metal would become. This is actually the second time the album has been reissued; it was originally released in 1992, and then reissued in 1999 with three bonus tracks including two demo verisons and one live track. Oddly, this version contains the same three bonus tracks, and as far as I can tell it hasn't otherwise been remixed or remastered.

Prior to Souls At Zero, Neurosis came primarily from a hardcore background. That much is still evident in the vocal delivery on the songs. That is basically the only evidence of their hardcore background, however, as the music otherwise explores much slower tempos, layering, and atmosphere. "Sterile Vision" has a simple acoustic guitar figure throughout most of the song accompanied by reverb-drenched drums and induces a slow headbang long before the distorted guitars kick in. "A Chronlogy For Survival," the longest song (at 9:33) on an album full of long tracks (5 of the original 10 tracks are over 7 minutes) is another one that hits the full spectrum between distortion and feedback at one end and clean guitars and a violin melody at the other end. The two bonus demo verisons are interesting, as is the more chaotic, drum-driven live "Cleanse III."

There's a reason Souls At Zero is a classic; it's not just that it was a launching point for a new subgenre, but the dense arrangements both connect with you on the first listen and keep you coming back to uncover more. To be fair, if you already have the original or the first reissue there's not really any reason to pick this up. On the other hand, if you're like me and into post-metal but haven't made it all the way back to the roots, now would be a great time to check out some of the roots of the genre.


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