Neurosis

After years of pioneering the synthesis of extreme audio and visuals in a live setting, Neurosis unleashes an undeniably stunning artistic accomplishment. Featuring, for the most part, striking visuals for all the songs from A Sun That Never Sets album (six videos were directed by Neurosis's visual artist Josh Graham), Neurosis blends occasional band footage into a few thematic videos and incredibly artistic visual concepts mainly focused on the organic and elemental: water, earth, clouds, blood, etc. For the most part it is stunning, with the constantly morphing and shifting visuals following the crescendos and lulls of Neurosis's most restrained, yet still hostile, musical endeavour. At times, A Sun The Never Sets does get slightly lost in its artistic aspirations, especially during the more thematic videos. What can also be overlooked is the Tribes of Neurot reinterpretation of A Sun, which is one of those "sounded good in theory" prospects that unfortunately loses something in its translation. The concept: inspired by Alvin Lucier, the final mix of A Sun was played in a room and copied onto a second tape machine; this process was then repeated 30 times, essentially meant to boil the music down to its purest form. An intriguing proposition, especially since it took 40 hours to create, but as the recording repetition increases from song to song, the volume dims, the bass frequencies emerge then fade and any and all overtones are completely lost. However, its visual companion of the oscilloscope signal coupled with myriad visuals proves incredibly mesmerising and consuming. Extras: 70-minute Tribes of Neurot audio/visual version of A Sun That Never Sets. (Relapse, www.relapse.com)