Neurosis has been a band I've been fascinated with ever since I saw them at Ozzfest 1997. It's hard to categorise them, and, since their music is extremely intense and aggressive, it's also difficult to appreciate for what it is. The founding of their Neurot Recordings label illustrates their vision and puts Neurosis clearly in the ballpark of innovative musicians bordering on performance art (the other bands in the label also create highly self-indulgent music). Neurosis' music isn't for the average person but there are parts that almost any lover of the art of music will appreciate, including operatic guitars combined with some extremely innovative drumming. All of these characteristics are featured on their latest release Sovereign which showcases growth and progression in this amazing band.
The melancholic guitar-heavy introduction slowly builds into the apocalyptic aggressiveness that we so dearly associate with Neurosis, containing screaming walls of guitars, noisy keyboards, and staccato drumming that will engulf your senses. This is cutting-edge music and is also one of the few new releases that I've heard that has really inspired me! The CD-ROM multimedia section features several graphic-intensive high-quality multiple-layer superimposed film-clips designed to set the mood of the songs, just like the hallucinatory film and side projections seen in Neurosis' live shows. I definitely recommend checking this one out.