Oftentimes, you might be tempted to skip watching the news on account of just how bleak and depressing it can be: other times, the news might be that famed sludge/post metal act Neurosis is back. It’s been an entire decade since 2016’s ‘Fires Within Fires,’ and the last ten years have been nothing short of turbulent for the group— now equipped with new vocalist Aaron Turner (of Sumac fame), the band have returned, taking the entire metal scene by storm. New record ‘An Undying Love for a Burning World’ is not just an impressive comeback, but a staggering achievement.

The album’s title is, in itself, a powerful statement of hope in the face of overwhelming odds, and it’s a sentiment that rings true throughout this odyssey of a listen. The opening cacophony of ‘We Are Torn Wide Open’ lays the desperation and the passion that clearly inspired the record’s creation bare for all to see, so much so that they’re literally screaming it in your face: Neurosis have used this opportunity to lament the current state of the world, using a mix of poetic nature imagery and scathing remarks to comment on issues of political division, social unrest and the ongoing climate crisis. Right from the off, Turner sounds completely and overwhelmingly comfortable as part of the band, bringing an intensity to the material that it absolutely required. The vocals of anyone less confident would probably have been swallowed by the heft and ambition on display here— as it stands though, the harrowing screams and monstrous bellows of this particular talent are impossible to ignore.

“The separation that burns our hearts

Is the root of all our disease

We've forgotten how to live, so we suffer

We've forgotten how to struggle, so we suffer

We've forgotten how to die, so we suffer”

‘An Undying Love for a Burning World’ is a big record, and not just because of the waves of discourse and praise it’s created since its surprise release. The album is a lumbering, groaning, crushing thing that drags behind it a real, tangible weight you can feel in the room: even poignant lyricism aside, this is a devastating listen. On ‘Mirror Deep,’ Turner and Von Till’s guitars hit you like sledgehammers, taking every opportunity to smack your poor vulnerable ears with dissonant blasts and overwhelming displays of sheer mass— the drums and bass, too, feel so physically unstoppable that they may as well be a bulldozer that crashes into you whenever you hit play. Neurosis are not making heavy music in the same manner as, say, your average deathcore act, but you’d be hard-pressed to find many songs that evoke the same visceral response as the dirty bass lines and grinding riffs on ‘Untethered’ or the driving riffs that score ‘First Red Rays.’ Whenever they see fit, Turner and company can make music that bludgeons you: thank the gods that they see fit to do so quite often on the new album.

The emotion underpinning those explosive outbursts it not pointless rage, though, but rather a kindling of hope, fear and sorrow that burns brightly in every moment— that is to say, Neurosis’ new album may be a towering metal record, but it isn’t one to hammer away at a single idea. The album shifts, in classic post metal fashion, into and out-of a range of sonic portraits, putting keyboardist Noah Landis to work: the ambient passage on ‘Mirror Deep’ is a little abrupt and arbitrary, sure, but every moment afterward feels entirely earned (and immensely gratifying to boot). ‘Seething and Scattered’ opens on a collection of grinding sludge riffs, but it’s the mystical collection of wandering synth lines, tribal drum grooves and emotive chord voicings in its second half that sets the cut apart. Much the same could be said for labyrinthine closer ‘Last Light,’ which is ambitious even by Neurosis’ standards— for all its eery vocal harmonies, crushing noise rock crescendos and surprising transitions, it’s the track’s genuinely uplifting melodies that seal the deal. Even at more than an hour in length, the record wastes very little time: whether deafening or soothing, every moment has a purpose.

‘An Undying Love for a Burning World’ is too massive to really describe in a review like this, and that is absolutely the impression it leaves you with once it finishes: a decade since their last album, Neurosis have delivered the post metal record of the year (hell, maybe even the metal record of the year). This is a tortured barrage of wistful melodies, punishing riffs and boundless experimentation, underpinned by real human emotion. More than anything, this is an album full of hope.