This time they have former At The Gates frontman Tomes Lindberg lending his vocals to two tracks. Not surprising, this album contains elements that would not be out of place on an album by Opeth or any of the other progressive metal albums streaming out of Scandinavia. This, their seventh full-length, has a lose theme of superheroes, but with their normal political twist.
And it has some oddities on it like the bizarre little ditty “I Hate Pigs”. As with many of these sort of releases, if you didn’t know the band’s extreme metal past, you wouldn’t take this for that sort of album. It’s a clever mix of whatever works and while not exactly instantly gratifying, rewards generously repeated listens.
Neurosis: Enemy of the Sun
Neurosis is a band that you either love or loath. They have gone from hardcore punk, through progressive doom sludge, to an rather odd amalgam of progressive metal, hardcore, tribal, and even ambient music. For the most part you have no clue what to expect, but you just know that it will continuously ride that fine line between genius and absolute, complete tosh. Then again with Neurosis, you can find yourself thinking either of those things about a track depending on the day.
This is a reissue of the seminal release from the band, an ode to post-metal that many bands have tried to emulate and few manage. It's one of those releases that critics and fans of the band wax poetic about but many people can’t understand. As with many of these re-releases you get a couple of extra tracks: a demo of “Takeahnase” and a live version of Cleanse called “Cleanse II”.
One word of warning, if you have never heard what these guys do, make sure to listen to this release and pay attention. Neurosis do music that is not meant to be in the background. It's meant to be the focus of your attention lest you miss it subtleties.
Black Label Society: Order of the Black
Zakk and the boys are back with one hell of an album. This is a great collection of tracks, that remind you, if that were necessary, why Wylde is so missed on the recent Ozzy album. In fact, there are quite a few tracks on this album, not the least “Overlord” where Zakk channels Ozzy’s vocal style. This is everything a good Ozzy album should be, and even more.
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