Neurosis: "To Crawl Under One's Skin"

Earlier this year, pioneering sludge-metal band Neurosis reissued its third studio album, Souls at Zero, on its own label, Neurot. Though it sounds just as fresh today, it has been nearly 20 years since that influential mixture of heavy grooves, diverse folk instrumentation, and mammoth metal riffs first cropped up. We asked frontman Steve Von Till to compile a playlist for us, and he came up with 11 bands that were instrumental in Neurosis' formation and development.

Bands Integral to the Origin of Neurosis
by Steve Von Till of Neurosis

This playlist may contain the secrets to the origin of thousands of bands who became inspired to give it all.

1. Joy Division: "New Dawn Fades"

The driving bass. The melodic yet primitive guitar. The empty and bleak space as large as the riff. The words, “Me, seeing me this time, hoping for something else.” The emotions left behind.

2. Black Flag: My War (side B)

"Nothing Left Inside," "Three Nights," and "Scream." Slow dirge and discordant angst…perfection.

3. Amebix: "Last Will and Testament"

No Gods, No Masters, and yet a spiritual thread runs through its music. Punks informed by Crass and Killing Joke but armed with mysticism and huge metal guitars. We owe a lot to these men.

4. Pink Floyd: "Careful With That Axe Eugene" (Live at Pompeii version)

Man…that scream…I swear Roger Waters looks like he is about to transform into some beast during that performance. Heavy psych at its best.

5. Die Kreuzen: "All White"

Dissonant guitars, insane, augmented chords, melodic bass, and that voice! “Let me out!!!!!!!!”

6. Voivod: "Tribal Convictions"

Along with Die Kreuzen, Piggy (Denis D'Amour) from Voivod blew our minds with the insane, dissonant chord shapes. Psychedelic metal from space. Truly one of a kind. We miss you, Piggy.

7. Rudimentary Peni: Cacophony (entire record)

A band considered to be a group of art-damaged anarcho-punks comes out of nowhere with a completely bizarre, hypnotic masterpiece dedicated and inspired by the life of HP Lovecraft. This may be one of the strangest rock records of all time.

8. Killing Joke: "The Wait"

Even though it is overplayed thanks to a cover by an arena-rock band, it cannot detract from the fact that this track from its first record is heavy as hell — a badass new-wave anthem. Killing Joke is still intense and passionate. Huge inspiration.

9. Deep Purple: "Highway Star"

Harmonic distortion. This is what the human ear finds pleasing. I can think of no other sound that personifies those words more than this era of Deep Purple. Before I knew much about music, I thought it was Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar that was responsible for the thick, rich, tough wall of sound, but as I got older, I thought, “No, it must be Jon Lord’s distorted organ that is so heavy.” Finally I had the moment of clarity; it is the magic blend of the Hammond B3’s foldback distortion with the Stratocaster and Rickenbacker through dimed stacks of '60s Marshalls that is so damn good. My quest for my guitar tone has been chasing that ever since.

10. The Subhumans: "From the Cradle to the Grave"

The title says it all. An absolute epic of musicianship and depth of lyrics that stands leagues beyond the shallow and naive sociopolitical punk of the era. Timeless.

11. Black Sabbath: "Black Sabbath"

They say both good and bad things come in threes. This is all about three notes, which bring forth both good and bad in the mind of the listener. The triad. The ultimate, heavy, slow doom riff. I cannot count the number of times I have “written” a riff, only to realize “Damn it, I ripped off Sabbath…again.”

Harvestman: "The Watcher"

When Steve Von Till joined burgeoning metal giants Neurosis in 1989, there was a distinct change in the band’s direction. Its raw hardcore from 1987 album Pain of Mind evolved into more progressive, atmospheric music over the course of The World as Law in 1990 and Souls at Zero in 1992. The maturation was purposeful but wasn’t so radical that it denoted a conscious abandonment of the band's previous work.

Twenty years later, the band is still continuing to evolve its post-hardcore sound and has influenced an entire generation of bands that worship the so-called cult of "Neur-Isis" (a tongue-in-cheek reference to both Neurosis and its latter-day kindred spirits Isis). By 1995, the band was beginning to venture farther and farther into ethereal, ambient music.

Tribes of Neurot became an alternate moniker for the band’s more experimental work, which often supplemented Neurosis titles. Even then, some musical channels remained unexplored.

In 2000, Von Till released his first album under his own name, presenting a singer/songwriter acoustic work entitled As the Crow Flies. In addition to more intimate guitar playing, his gravelly vocals took on a more weathered, reflective tone. And as his work in Neurosis, Tribes of Neurot, and as a singer/songwriter continued over the decade, he continued accumulating ideas that weren’t quite right for any of the projects.

“I had a body of work sitting around that was really concentrated on exploring the different textures and tones that an electric guitar can produce,” Von Till says. “I wanted to the use the studio as its own instrument to distill, stealing dub techniques to take what I’d tracked and morph it into something else.”
 

"I never feel that any ideas that come from my brain are that great. When I surrender to the fact that it’s larger than me — that’s when it becomes powerful."

In 2005, he released Lashing the Rye, his first record as Harvestman. It’s a strange amalgamation of sound collages, vintage psychedelia, and folk revival.

“In a way, it’s kind of my own fucked-up folk music,” says Von Till, who takes inspiration from Germanic and Celtic folklore, stemming from the modern revisiting of folk music in the 1960s and 1970s. Add to this the sonic exploration and self-reflective themes of 1970s psychedelia and 1980s electronica, and his use of “folk music” begins to hold water.

“It’s the sound of what it’s like when I visit ancient stone circles in Europe…and it’s also my love from what I see across the ocean—Hawkwind, Kraftwerk, Skullflower,” he says, noting that his music is informed by both bloodline and experience.

The communal aspect of folk music is seen in heavy psych jam “By Wind and Sun” on Harvestman’s 2009 effort In a Dark Tongue. The song is based on sessions with DJ friends in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It’s singular in that it has vocals, specifically Von Till’s repeated chant of the title.

“It sounds cheesy, but it felt like I had this druidic moment,” he explains. “I’m meditating on the themes I meditate on, and all of the sudden, that mantra just popped in there.” This spirit captures the essence of Harvestman and a more mystical sort of collaboration.

“Whether you’re in the tracking or mixing phase, you have to obey what the music demands,” he says. “If you want to surrender to the muse, the head gets in the way. I never feel that any ideas that come from my brain are that great. When I surrender to the fact that it’s larger than me — that’s when it becomes powerful.”

Solo albums are self-indulgent by design, but that indulgence offers insight into the mind of its creator. On In a Dark Tongue, Von Till ties the spirit of his own guitar warbles and tape splicing to a John Martyn cover, a hypnotic, this-is-your-brain-on-drugs collaboration with Om bassist Al Cisneros, as well as pseudo-koto sounds curated by Grails guitarist Alex Hall.

The connection is simple: these are the sounds of musical reflection upon identity, a combination of nature and nurture. And through this process, the act of yielding to the music itself becomes a journey of self-discovery.

Von Till frames it best in words that seem to channel the hunchback musician of lore: “You really discover the power of meditation and otherworldliness, surrendering yourself to some sort of different realm [and entering] trance states through music,” he says. “Harvestman is probably the purest outlet I have for that. There’s no structure, just energy.”

Converge: Axe to Fall (Epitaph)

After nearly 20 years together, unconventional Boston hardcore quartet Converge adds to its eminent catalog with an album that will be one of the best heavy discs of the year.

Immediately, Axe to Fall delivers a heaping dose of full-throttle thrash metal, accelerating through push beats, high-string pull-offs, and double-bass blasts to establish a new tone for the band. "Reap What You Sow" continues the assault with palm-muted speed riffs and squealing solos that wouldn't sound out of place in Metallica's early catalog.

Guitarist/producer Kurt Ballou is at his absolute peak, creating the aforementioned mania and utilizing his usual armaments of dirge riffs, down-tuned chugging, and morose melodies. Additionally, the group's stream of one-off guest musicians continues to widen, this time sweeping guitarist Steve Von Till (Neurosis), vocalist Mookie Singerman (Genghis Tron), and three-quarters of Cave In (guitarists Stephen Brodsky and Adam McGrath and drummer JR Conners) into compelling cameos.

Ultimately, Axe to Fall makes its case to be Converge's best album. But whether or not you agree, it's another reflection of Converge at the top of its game, crushing listeners will full-bodied hardcore that isn't afraid to bust out an acoustic guitar, piano, and glockenspiel for a track.

Russian Circles: Geneva (Suicide Squeeze)

Striking a balance between the relentless riffage of Enter (Flameshovel, 2006) and the melodious restraint of Station (Suicide Squeeze, 2008), Geneva showcases a maturity of instrumental rock trio Russian Circles through complete creations — songs that equally call upon sheer beauty, ascending tension, and caustic force.

It’s not as voracious as the band’s debut, but Geneva retains a dynamic vibe through rhythmic heaviness, much of which comes via new bassist Brian Cook. A current member of These Arms are Snakes, Cook makes his “debut” on Geneva, making his presence immediately felt with a worming bass groove on album opener “Fathom.”

Cook is but one key addition to the band’s repertoire; adjunct instruments, generally stringed, augment and guide much the album’s material.

These chordophones accentuate three of the album’s first four tracks, and they lead the first five minutes of “Philos,” a 10-minute epic that closes Geneva in ruminative fashion. Just prior, distant horns utter a wordless lamentation on the album’s penultimate track, “When the Mountain Comes to Muhammad.”

In retrospect, Geneva should mark the pivot point for the band's career — a moment that marks both the band’s musical maturity and its arrival as a major player in independent rock.

Shrinebuilder: s/t (Neurot)

Consisting of guitarist Scott Kelly (Neurosis), guitarist Scott “Wino” Weinrich (Saint Vitus), bassist Al Cisneros (Om), and drummer Dale Crover (Melvins), this highly anticipated project is a four-piece heavy-psych super group that holds long-lasting intentions.

As one might imagine based on the members’ current and former bands, Shrinebuilder is based on brief, cyclical riffs that are topped with swirling effects. These give way to fuller, meditative breakdowns, which frequently revert back to mid-tempo stoner-metal wizardry.

Each member contributes vocals, which range from semi-spoken to distant, harmonic, and gruff. These different vocal styles help to individualize each track, which might otherwise run together via similarities in style and duration.

“Pyramid of the Moon” combines hymnal harmonies, high-pitched guitar synchronizations, über-echoed vocals, and a warbling synth sound into a dreamy blend. We could proclaim it to be the best selection of this five-tune full-length, but the album’s final track, “Science of Anger,” only comes with the full retail version of the album – available today.

Honorable mentions:

The Black Heart Procession: Six (Temporary Residence)
Fuck Buttons: Tarot Sport (ATP)
OOIOO: Armonico Hewa (Thrill Jockey)
Sufjan Stevens: The BQE (Asthmatic Kitty)
Themselves: CrownsDown (Anticon)

Debashish Bhattacharya

With his second album in 14 months, Indian slide-guitar master Debashish Bhattacharya issues his take on musical adaptations of the mythological Hindu figure Shakuntala.  Using one of his twangy, self-made creations, Bhattacharya mixes Hindustani and Karnatic music in a style that, at times, distantly resembles Western slide music.

Debashish Bhattacharya: "Chahat"

Debashish Bhattacharya: \"Chahat\"

Sleep: Hesitation Wounds (Strange Famous)

A co-founder of hip-hop collective Oldominion, emcee Sleep has made a name for himself in the Pacific Northwest with high-energy, quick-tongued rhymes, diverse samples, and an often-downbeat sound.  This follow-up to his 2005 LP Christopher is his debut on Sage Francis' Strange Famous label, and it features guest spots by Del tha Funky Homosapien and Grayskul.

Obvious disclaimer: this Sleep is unrelated to the über-heavy stoner-metal group of the same name.

Amber Asylum: Bitter River (Profound Lore)

This vocally driven neoclassical project is led by multi-instrumentalist Kris Force, a Gothically inspired songstress with no relation to ALARM head honcho Chris Force.

A pairing of cello and violin roots Bitter River in a brooding, eerie minimalism, which is completed with Force's powerful range.  Previous Amber Asylum contributors have included Steve Von Till (Neurosis) and Tim Green (The Fucking Champs); the group's current collaborators include Eric Wood (Bastard Noise / Man is the Bastard), Jackie Perez-Gratz (Giant Squid), Leila Abdul-Rauf (Saros), and more.

Amber Asylum: "Bitter River"

Amber Asylum: \"Bitter River\"