Neurosis
Support: Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, the Body
Date: Thursday August 6th, 2015
Venue: the Opera House in Toronto, Ontario
T-shirt worn: plain black
I got to the venue extremely early. I was confused by my mobile ticket and had to make sure I could get in. I think the Goddess herself is preventing me from ever seeing Neurosis. But I got in fine. I could've gotten the rail but I've found the sound there the last few times hasn't been very good. And Scott Kelly scares me. So I stayed back.
The first band the Body was pretty good. They were definitely heavy. Their sound was really muddy but it was actually really cool. If I ever see Impetuous Ritual I hope they have a sound like these guys. Except these guys reminded me of the heavier moments of Neurosis. Heavier actually. They reminded me of the first Isis full-length Celestial.
The next band Brothers of the Sonic Cloth was brutal. They reminded me of Crowbar...yuck. They were very odd looking too. The wrasslin' fans will appreciate that I thought their drummer looked like a thinner Balls Mahoney. They did have some decent riffs but they couldn't have been done sooner for me.
It's funny when I think back on Neurosis. I've been listening to them for three decades (since 1997, so yes) and when I first got in to them with Through Silver in Blood my friends all hated them. My friend who was in to the Melvins hates them. My friend who was into European death and black metal hated them. My friend who was into my-metal hated them. What I'm saying is no matter what type of metal my friends liked they all hated Neurosis. So how the hell did they pack the Opera House tonight?
So tonight was redemption from when I saw Neurosis with Godspeed You! Black Emperor a year ago and it blew up in my face. It was cool that they started their set the exact same way as that show. It was like January 2014 never happened. Locust Star was so fucking intense. That was the first Neurosis song I ever heard and the climax at the end is still so fucking insane. And Dave Edwards' vocals were just awesome. They really need to get that guy back behind the mic more often, but I think they did on their last album. After that they played…some good stuff. With so many LONG songs you can’t expect to hear everything. There’s other stuff I personally would’ve rather heard but whatever. The other highlights for me were the two songs from the last album (At the Well and My Heart for Deliverance) especially My Heart for Deliverance. The climax of that one too was just insane. The crowd was rather subdued for most of the night except during the Doorway and Through Silver in Blood, when smallish moshpits started up. Through Silver in Blood was insane live too. Like IN-SANE. Overall it was a wicked show. The band sounded awesome no matter what song they were playing and the interludes between songs were super cool.
Neurosis
1. A Sun that Never Sets
2. Locust Star
3. Distill (Watching The Swarm)
4. At The Well
5. The Doorway
6. My Heart For Deliverance
7. Times of Grace
8. The Tide
9. Through Silver in Blood
____________________________________________________________
Follow up:
Since this show Neurosis has released another album (2016's 'Fires Within Fires') which I thought was fucking terrible. They actually played here in Toronto again just last week at a venue that is way bigger than the one they played at this show (the Danforth Music Hall, which holds around twelve hundred people). I still can't believe they're as popular now as they are. As I said in my original review: when I started listening to them EVERYONE hated them, except people who wrote long-winded reviews for indie metal magazines. Steve Von Till released a really good album this year though under the name "Harvestman".
I found out afterwards that the singer for Brothers of the Sonic Cloth sang in a band during grunges heyday that was called TAD, who never got popular (because they sucked) but got name-dropped a lot and were mentioned in every grunge video piece. Like, even at twelve years old I knew who they were but I never heard a song.
The Body was the band that interested me the most here and the one that I've kept the closest tabs on since. They released an album in 2016 called 'No One Deserves Happiness' and it was fucking incredible. My AOTY in 2016 actually. Everything else they've done has had their moments. They've played Toronto three times since this show and I was only able to catch them once this past February.
Support: Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, the Body
Date: Thursday August 6th, 2015
Venue: the Opera House in Toronto, Ontario
T-shirt worn: plain black
I got to the venue extremely early. I was confused by my mobile ticket and had to make sure I could get in. I think the Goddess herself is preventing me from ever seeing Neurosis. But I got in fine. I could've gotten the rail but I've found the sound there the last few times hasn't been very good. And Scott Kelly scares me. So I stayed back.
The first band the Body was pretty good. They were definitely heavy. Their sound was really muddy but it was actually really cool. If I ever see Impetuous Ritual I hope they have a sound like these guys. Except these guys reminded me of the heavier moments of Neurosis. Heavier actually. They reminded me of the first Isis full-length Celestial.
The next band Brothers of the Sonic Cloth was brutal. They reminded me of Crowbar...yuck. They were very odd looking too. The wrasslin' fans will appreciate that I thought their drummer looked like a thinner Balls Mahoney. They did have some decent riffs but they couldn't have been done sooner for me.
It's funny when I think back on Neurosis. I've been listening to them for three decades (since 1997, so yes) and when I first got in to them with Through Silver in Blood my friends all hated them. My friend who was in to the Melvins hates them. My friend who was into European death and black metal hated them. My friend who was into my-metal hated them. What I'm saying is no matter what type of metal my friends liked they all hated Neurosis. So how the hell did they pack the Opera House tonight?
So tonight was redemption from when I saw Neurosis with Godspeed You! Black Emperor a year ago and it blew up in my face. It was cool that they started their set the exact same way as that show. It was like January 2014 never happened. Locust Star was so fucking intense. That was the first Neurosis song I ever heard and the climax at the end is still so fucking insane. And Dave Edwards' vocals were just awesome. They really need to get that guy back behind the mic more often, but I think they did on their last album. After that they played…some good stuff. With so many LONG songs you can’t expect to hear everything. There’s other stuff I personally would’ve rather heard but whatever. The other highlights for me were the two songs from the last album (At the Well and My Heart for Deliverance) especially My Heart for Deliverance. The climax of that one too was just insane. The crowd was rather subdued for most of the night except during the Doorway and Through Silver in Blood, when smallish moshpits started up. Through Silver in Blood was insane live too. Like IN-SANE. Overall it was a wicked show. The band sounded awesome no matter what song they were playing and the interludes between songs were super cool.
Neurosis
1. A Sun that Never Sets
2. Locust Star
3. Distill (Watching The Swarm)
4. At The Well
5. The Doorway
6. My Heart For Deliverance
7. Times of Grace
8. The Tide
9. Through Silver in Blood
____________________________________________________________
Follow up:
Since this show Neurosis has released another album (2016's 'Fires Within Fires') which I thought was fucking terrible. They actually played here in Toronto again just last week at a venue that is way bigger than the one they played at this show (the Danforth Music Hall, which holds around twelve hundred people). I still can't believe they're as popular now as they are. As I said in my original review: when I started listening to them EVERYONE hated them, except people who wrote long-winded reviews for indie metal magazines. Steve Von Till released a really good album this year though under the name "Harvestman".
I found out afterwards that the singer for Brothers of the Sonic Cloth sang in a band during grunges heyday that was called TAD, who never got popular (because they sucked) but got name-dropped a lot and were mentioned in every grunge video piece. Like, even at twelve years old I knew who they were but I never heard a song.
The Body was the band that interested me the most here and the one that I've kept the closest tabs on since. They released an album in 2016 called 'No One Deserves Happiness' and it was fucking incredible. My AOTY in 2016 actually. Everything else they've done has had their moments. They've played Toronto three times since this show and I was only able to catch them once this past February.
Do you like old people porn? Because I just put enough to fill an old folks home in the wrestling section!