dB HoF No. 141
Label: Relapse
Release date: April 2, 1996
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While debating the musical and artistic impact of each Neurosis release is something many of us are happy to do long into the night, it’s pretty clear that if they ever had a breakout record, that record was Through Silver in Blood.
After 10 years of existence, a bigger label and large-scale tours created enough exposure for the band for them to turn from trailblazing crust punks into the extreme music demigods celebrated today.
But a higher profile isn’t the reason why Through Silver in Blood is still viewed with such reverence. After the band molted their hardcore aesthetic and began trekking into unorthodox territory with Souls at Zero and Enemy of the Sun, they suddenly plunged into a bewildering, bleak, terrifying sonic landscape that sounded (and still sounds) nothing like anyone could have been prepared for.
With the crucial addition of keyboardist Noah Landis, he and the remaining members (guitarists Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till, bassist Dave Edwardson and drummer Jason Roeder) utilized Engine-Ear Billy Anderson one final time to create an oppressive, suffocating, hateful epic.
This is the record from which genres directly sprung. A paradigm shift, people rethinking not just how to write a song but how they play their instrument, how they experience sound. Despite the band’s easily traceable history, for so many it was like Through Silver in Blood was found in a smoking crater, sent to communicate some message you couldn’t muster the endurance to translate.
And all of this sprung from the band’s shared personal struggles. They say these times were spiritually trying. Claustrophobic. A true darkness.
A focus on the music is what kept their heads above water. It was therapeutic. It was free from judgment. It was when the brotherhood was finally complete. As Von Till says, it was crazy enough that they were able to blow the fucking doors open.
– Shane Mehling
Got to get more Neurosis? To read the entire seven-page story, with featurings interviews with all members on Through Silver in Blood, purchase the print issue from our store, or digitally via our app for iPhone/iPad or Android.
