Neurosis - Through Silver In Blood review
| Band: | Neurosis |
| Album: | Through Silver In Blood |
| Style: | Post-hardcore, Atmospheric sludge metal |
| Release date: | April 02, 1996 |
| Guest review by: | Desha |
01. Through Silver In Blood
02. Rehumanize
03. Eye
04. Purify
05. Locust Star
06. Strength Of Fates
07. Become The Ocean
08. Aeon
09. Enclosure In Flame
In 1996, Neurosis decided to drop a bomb on us. An album that would not only go on to basically create the genre of post metal, but also one of the heaviest pieces of music you will ever hear.
It's very hard to find the right words to begin this review, so let's just skip any further introduction and jump right in: Through Silver In Blood is massive. From the absolutely monumental opener, over songs like "Eye", "Purify" and "Locust Star" that need a new unit of mass to be properly described, up until the final, last breaths of this apocalypse on "Aeon", this album's epic proportions really are something else.
The tribal drumming from the previous record has become a mainstay now, riffs became slower, simpler, heavier. A lot of the songs (like the title track or "Aeon") build and build, while songs like "Eye" and "Purify" feel like being caught in a storm much like back on Enemy of the Sun. Samples are again used to amazing effect, otherworldly cries on "Purify", horrifying preachers on "Rehumanize". Neurosis mostly communicates through the language of sludge at this point, which no doubt inspired tons and tons of fans to do the same. With that it's the first album I'd really call post metal.
Unlike with the previous albums, I will admit that I have no clue what any of this means though. Through Silver In Blood is easily their most complex record lyrically at this point, and I admit I didn't eat my Nietzsche for breakfast in a while. Again a lot of references to the Moon, the Sun, as well as associated ideas of silver, wombs, eyes, snakes, some talk about atomic bombs... Make of that what you will. It definitely feels apocalyptic and Neurosis loves to talk about mysticism, wisdom and purifying your soul.
With all this said, I find it very hard to find a ranking for this album among Neurosis' discography. It's the only one of the 90s output that I think actually has some filler. Some songs sound like they still belong on Enemy Of The Sun, some others feel like an unrefined test run for the slow parts on Times of Grace ("Strength of Fates"). "Enclosure in Flames" - while being another great, dark and monumentally heavy track (but still one of the lesser ones on the album) - has no business coming after "Aeon", which would've functioned as a perfect outro. While it probably has the best beginning of the 90s albums, Through Silver In Blood definitely has the weakest ending of them particularly due to this. The voice sample interludes seem a bit more detached than before. Through Silver In Blood just doesn't evoke any clear emotions in me like the other three 90s albums.
Given all this, it should be my least favourite of their 90s output... right? But god, if I wouldn't literally kill to see them perform this live in the 90s. While it's not clear which emotions it evokes, that might be an asset. Cause I still love every second of it and wonder why. Like all of their other 90s output, there's some angle where it really sticks out and can be appreciated.
And like... it's just so heavy?
This is one of the big ones and you owe yourself to listen to it if you haven't.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 10 |
| Originality: | 9 |
| Production: | 10 |
Written by Desha | 18.08.2020
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments: 18
Visited by: 92 users
| RaduP CertifiedHipster Staff Posts: 9015  |
Few albums genuinely deserve a 10. This is one of them.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7608  |
I think this is one of those albums where it potentially merits a 10, not because it's perfect (I agree that Strength Of Fates and Enclosure In Flame drag, and that Aeon would make for a much better ending to the record), but because it delivers emotions that almost nothing else can and stands alone as such an immense piece of work that its imperfections almost work in its favor. The title track is one of the best metal songs ever really.
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 61982  |
Never hear this band....
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306  |
Written by Bad English on 18.08.2020 at 16:11 You should remedy that asap.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 61982 |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 18.08.2020 at 16:15 If radu would not add his neo folk band and made ont i would never knew such band even exist
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die" I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| Desha delicious dish Posts: 817  |
Written by musclassia on 18.08.2020 at 14:47 Yeah, I went into my relistens of it thinking I was going to be somewhat negative, but then I listened to it again and again and again and all the flaws didn't really seem to matter all that much. It's definitely very unique.
---- You are the hammer, I am the nail building a house in the fire on the hill
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| zoller Account deleted |
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| Desha delicious dish Posts: 817 |
Written by [user id=249225] on 19.08.2020 at 01:29 That's how I went into my relistens earlier this year, but The whole idea of ranking the albums kind of fell out of the window (is that a figure of speech that exists?) after a few listens. Like I said in my review, if I think about it, it should be my least favourite of the 90s ones (which I consider to be their best by far), but that just doesn't seem to really work out. Written by [user id=249225] on 19.08.2020 at 01:29 Yeah it's definitely a good record for that kind of feeling.
---- You are the hammer, I am the nail building a house in the fire on the hill
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603  |
Tbh I rate albums I would edit in some way with 10s all the time. No album is "perfect" in that sense, a 10 is a 10 even if there's songs you'd skip or rearrange.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Desha delicious dish Posts: 817 |
Written by Milena on 19.08.2020 at 14:59 That's precisely why I usually don't rate stuff, different people use different metrics to rate things and it gets all confusing
---- You are the hammer, I am the nail building a house in the fire on the hill
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989  |
I've never gotten quite as hyped up about Neurosis as many other people both on and off MS seem to, but this is still a pretty great album. Solid review of it, though it'd probably get more of an 8 or 8.5 max from me.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| zoller Account deleted |
zoller
Account deleted Written by Desha on 19.08.2020 at 14:43 That is a figure of speech that exists  Of their 90s records I'd say it goes Times of Grace, Souls at Zero, Through Silver in Blood, Enemy of the Sun, The Word as Law. TSIB and EOTS are tied and could easily switch, though.Written by Desha on 19.08.2020 at 14:43 Mhm 
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| zoller Account deleted |
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| Desha delicious dish Posts: 817 |
Written by [user id=249225] on 21.08.2020 at 07:11 Ah shit I forgot that The Word as Law was 1990, I thought it was '89. That fucks up my review then haha, that's definitely my least favourite of the 90s albums then. My favourite is still Souls at Zero but after that it really depends on my mood.
---- You are the hammer, I am the nail building a house in the fire on the hill
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7608 |
Written by Desha on 21.08.2020 at 17:01 Souls At Zero was the first Neurosis song that got me, and the album was the only one of theirs I really listened to until I gave them another go after Roadburn 2016. Nowadays I'd probably have it fourth after The Eye Of Every Storm, Through Silver In Blood and Times Of Grace, but those 4 are close together and clearly ahead of the rest of their albums in my book
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| zoller Account deleted |
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| Netzach Planewalker Posts: 1761  |
You're still gonna have to get me into the rest of Neurosis some day, because for some reason this is the only album of theirs that stuck with me, and it is... well, the review says it all. Also probably a good idea not to eat Nietzsche for breakfast. He's more of a late evening snack kind of guy.
---- My "blackened synth metal" solo project: maladomini.bandcamp.com. Whenever I write something funny, weird, or pretentious... I learned English by playing Baldur's Gate, okay?
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| Desha delicious dish Posts: 817 |
Written by Netzach on 11.07.2021 at 13:48 Well I reviewed the two that came before this. The Enemy of the Sun one is particularly bad though, so maybe don't read it lmao I think the rest of the albums all have a fair number of reviews on the site, and I don't think I do reviews well anyways so it's good that I won't write more haha
---- You are the hammer, I am the nail building a house in the fire on the hill
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