UMUR "Honor Found in Decay" is the 11th full-length studio album by US sludge/post metal act Neurosis. The album was released though Neurot Records in October 2012. Since the release of "Given to the Rising (2009)", the band members have taken part in various other projects. Especially frontman Scott Kelly has been busy working on both the "Shrinebuilder (2009)" album and his 3rd full-length solo album "The Forgiven Ghost In Me (2012)".

The music on "Honor Found in Decay" is slow paced, heavy/doomy and atmospheric metal. Call it sludge, post-metal or doom, the fact of the matter is that it´s dark and brick heavy. The heavy riffs are often layered with atmospheric effects, samples and keyboards. The drums often have a tribal feel to them, which provides them with an adventurous sound. To top it off you got the raw yet not completely non-melodic vocals by Scott Kelly. He is the kind of vocalist that bleeds harsh life experiences and authenticity and his distinct sounding vocals and convincing delivery bring a lot to the music.

The 7 track, 60:47 minutes long album is a dark journey and a leasson in how to create heavy and atmospheric music, that while it is at times hypnotically repetitive (check out the closing minutes of "My Heart for Deliverance"), it´s still entertaining, and most of the time the repetition serves a justified atmospheric purpose. The only track on the album I feel is slightly sub par to the rest is "Casting of the Ages". That track just hasn´t won me over yet. Fortunately the rest of the tracks are brilliant and as with most of Neurosis output, they grow on you with repeated listens. A track like the above mentioned "My Heart for Deliverance" is simply brilliant, but also "At the Well" and the more experimental "Bleeding the Pigs" score high in my book.

While "Honor Found in Decay" is probably not an album that´ll surprise fans of the band, it´s still obvious that Neurosis are as creative and determined as ever. They not only write intriguingly structured and damn heavy and atmospheric music, they also deliver that music with a burning passion that´s admirable. Releasing consistently great and interesting albums for so many years is not an easy task. So upon conclusion "Honor Found in Decay" is another great album in a long line of great albums, featuring strong songwriting, great musicianship and in this case an organic sound production that suits the music well. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

Murder1000Deaths Neurosis is a band that will always challenge me, and I love it. The first time I sampled Neurosis was Locust Star, from this very album. It was interesting, and I had listened to other post-metal such as Dirge and Cult of Luna before. I threw on the album, and sat down for a listen.

The buildups. The drums. It's... terrifying. Some kind of wonderfully fucked up lullaby. The walls of sound throughout are immense, towering over the sonic landscapes. The strange interludes truly add to this album's bleak and horrifying atmosphere (see Become The Ocean, definitely). After the album finished, I was at a loss for words. Never had I heard more disgusting and sludgy music before.

Through Silver in Blood is a metal cornerstone. It defined post-metal within the 1990s, and shocked the music world as a whole. Neurosis may crush your skull. They may scare you shitless. But they will leave you absolutely speechless.

Warthur For their latest sludge metal/post-metal offering, Neurosis offer up more of the same, and if that's all you expect or want from them I guess that's enough. However, those who prize Neurosis because of the adventurous experimentalism on display in Souls at Zero or Through Silver In Blood will struggle to warm to this release. With predictable, by-the-numbers tracks, the band seem to be going through the motions; the doomy riffs are like any other doomy riff produced by any other sludgey doomy band, the vocals feel anonymous and lifeless, and overall the band just seem unutterably tired. It'll tickle the fancy of their more uncritical fans, but I can't help but wonder whether they even want to be Neurosis any more.

Warthur Souls at Zero finds Neurosis exploring a dizzying variety of different directions to expand their sound in, with the end result being that it's a foundational album of not just sludge metal but also post-metal. The distorted, muzzy guitars and shouted hardcore-influenced vocals of sludge emerge here and there, whilst other musical passages manage to incorporate the classic post-rock sound before many of its proponents even managed to put out an album. I can well see why this album would be startling coming from a band who had previously played in a solidly thrash/hardcore melange up to this point - even after hearing albums like Through Silver In Blood, I find myself taken aback by how varied and how excellent the album is.

The Angry Scotsman With this album Neurosis takes a more standard post metal sound, though you can't knock the band for that, since they invented the sound.

I actually prefer newer Neurosis over old, simply put: atmosphere over aggression (as one person once told me). Of course atmosphere has been a Neurosis staple since '92, they've been belting out lengthy, atmospheric metal long before Isis or even Tool, but on "The Eye of Every Storm" they adopt a more heavy/light interplay style, and is greatly subdued. Their bludgeoning, sludgy guitar dirges are still around, but just much less. Neurosis has no problem utilizing melodic passages, and even minimalism.

Opening track "Burn" and "The Eye of Every Storm" have lengthy movements that are almost solely vocals, the latter being backed up a continuous "wub", psychedelic noises and splashes of guitar.

These two being standout tracks. "Burn" is, again, pretty standard post metal, though so well done. Heavy/light transitions, building to a powerful climax. His gruff, sludge metal vocals are so fitting...he does it in a more "singing" style and over soft, beautiful music it creates such an emotional, tortured feeling. Awesome song.

"The Eye of Every Storm" moves like a storm, gradually rolling in until it reaches a real moving part, before entering a long quiet section. A baritone talking takes the forefront, as mentioned earlier, backed up by various trippy noises. Really let it sink in, what he's saying, the ambiance, everything.

Another brilliant song is "Bridges". A steady, (though very distant) punk drum beat carries on while sparse piano, vocals, and fluttering psychedelic noises take the forefront. Picks up a bit before a schizo journey of drones and borderline silence takes over. Both parts are awesome, though it takes some patience to grasp all the subtlety in the quiet (on casual listen it'll sound like honest silence) before a rockin ending. Atmospheric, post metal to the nth degree.

That's really how to best describe whole album. A lot of quiet, spaced with heavy, (in their classic slow, even droning, nature) tons of little detail. Pretty heavy use of synth, though it's never prominent, just filler...another piece you may not hear at first but adds another dimension.

The vocals are still Neurosis' strained, sludge metal style though even here more subdued. He still lets it soar, but all the time and while I was never a huge fan, I like it much more here. The restraint does well, and of course makes it more powerful when he takes off.

No doubt, like most of the bands work this is a difficult album. Even I struggle a bit with some Neurosis. "The Eye of Every Storm" requires some patience and a fine ear. It's not the best for casual listening, as the long quiet parts would have to be boring, this is best for active listening. To really feel this albums power and absorb all the subtle songwriting it's best to sit down, do nothing, and let the album take you over. I like to put it on early morning after I wake up, sitting there relaxed playing this album, or doing so whenever I have some nice down time.

While it's extremely well done, the album is a tad formulaic and it's difficulty may be a turn off, (though I found it easier to get into then old school, crushing Neurosis). The gods of post metal have done it again, putting out a unique and superb post metal album.

Four Stars