Photo by: Bobby Cochran
Official press release:
Neurosis returns with their first new album in a decade, An Undying Love For A Burning World, which is now streaming on all digital platforms and available for physical preorder through the band’s Neurot Recordings. The album sees the band joined by Aaron Turner on guitar and vocals. Neurosis will also make their return to the stage at Fire In The Mountains Festival in July.
“We are torn wide open”
Evolution can be ugly and beautiful, painful and euphoric. An Undying Love For A Burning World is the first new release from Neurosis in a decade, and a potent statement of intent and rebirth – one that marks the first new steps of resolve and resilience. The band comment:
“We need this, perhaps more than ever, and we suspect we are not alone. The trials and tribulations in our personal lives and as a band, combined with simply trying to navigate the insanity of our society, with the stress, anxiety, and isolation that come with it can be excruciating. Add to that the existential confusion and sorrow of the climate crisis and the sixth mass extinction. It is enough to cause you to completely lose your mind if you can’t find release or catharsis. This strange emotionally charged music has always been our method of trying to survive this and this is what we’ve always been singing about. When you have spent a lifetime engaged with these energies and utilizing this form of expression to purge and purify, it feels detrimental to our well-being to let it sit idle and neglected. This was now or never.”
“We’ve forgotten how to live, so we suffer”
An Undying Love For A Burning World is an epic album of colossal hypnotism – beautiful, fearsome and utterly compelling in a way that only Neurosis can be. Aaron Turner (SUMAC, Isis) – a name whose legacy is intertwined with the band’s own and a true kindred spirit – joins the band on vocals and guitar, alongside vocalist/guitarist Steve Von Till, drummer Jason Roeder, bassist Dave Edwardson, and keyboard player Noah Landis. The band states on Turner’s arrival:
“He came straight out of the gate contributing, writing and presenting ideas. His energy matches ours perfectly. It’s as if he was always meant to be there.”
Turner adds:
“From the moment I first heard Neurosis over 30 years ago, I felt this was the music my heart and mind had been seeking but not yet heard. Now after many years traveling along various musical paths of my own, the singular sound and spirit embodied by Neurosis continues to speak to the depths of my being. It is an honor and a true pleasure to have been welcomed so warmly into a band that not only shaped my perspective on the limitless possibilities of music – but has lived and exemplified the necessity of upholding creative integrity and camaraderie above all else.”
“We’ve forgotten how to struggle, so we suffer”
Neurosis has never been afraid of change, and here they embrace endless regeneration, surrendering to the emotional exorcism through heaviness and distortion that their music incites. Just as the universe tends towards balance, Neurosis’ cacophony of noise, rhythm, and dissonance always resolves towards moments of beauty. The addition of Turner’s powerful vocals and wildly creative and unhinged approach to guitar proves to be a vital force as Neurosis find themselves again at the mercy of evolution and expression.
“We’ve forgotten we are wild, so we suffer”
On every song in the band’s history, Neurosis shifts restlessly between tension and relief, invoking a feeling both feral and transcendent in listeners. The band describe their songwriting process as an inescapable impulse to create with each other – a need rather than a choice. Indeed, the band insist that their return is, “not a reunion – we never broke up.”
An Undying Love For A Burning World was recorded by Scott Evans (Kowloon Walled City, SUMAC, Great Falls) at Studio Litho in Seattle over three weekends this Winter and mixed in three days just six weeks before release at Evan’s Antisleep Audio in Oakland.
“We exist in isolation, so we suffer”
Neurosis will play their first show in seven years on the traditional lands of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana as part of Fire In The Mountains festival by special invitation of Firekeeper Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to reducing youth suicide in Indian Country. FITM, is a unique festival known for bringing epic music to epic landscapes with the intent of reconnecting and immersing oneself with the natural world and strengthening our ancestral roots as human beings – an aim which aligns directly with Neurosis’ deep-rooted power. Comments Steve Von Till who also serves on the board of Firekeeper Alliance:
“I cannot think of a more appropriate environment for us to return to the stage. Last year’s Fire In The Mountains festival was the most profound music event I have ever been a part of. The weekend took on a healing, cathartic ceremonial nature that is difficult to put into words. Using emotionally heavy music to build community and collectively stare darkness in the eye is something we have always believed in, but using it to directly address the heartbreaking reality of suicide, grief, loss and trauma is taking it to another level.”
“The dissonance is deafening”
Neurosis’ An Undying Love For A Burning World is available now on all streaming platforms. The album will be released on LP in an array of variants, CD, and cassette in early May. Find all digital links and physical preorder options HERE.
Stay tuned for further news over the coming months.
An Undying Love For A Burning World track listing:
- “We Are Torn Wide Open”
- “Mirror Deep”
- “First Red Rays”
- “Blind”
- “Seething And Scattered”
- “Untethered”
- “In The Waiting Hours”
- “Last Light”
