It is said that at the 2007 Roadburn Fest in Tilburg, Holland Neurosis played to a “die-hard audience” and it must have been one hell of a gathering because this live album is a true lesson in the art of musical craftsmanship. From a sharp, flexible production to a flat-out incredible live performance, Neurosis laid claims the event that night.

While most of the tracks are pretty awesome in the studio setting, I actually enjoy the live album here much more; maybe it’s the rawness and emotion of an audience setting that brings out the best in some bands, but Live at Roadburn 2007 seems to just be something special. While this might seem silly to some, I relate this recording to a Doors concert in the general air of expectancy that covers the album. “Burn” hosts a very intense mid-section that seems almost like “The End” from Jimmy and the boys with its uneasiness. It’s like you’re waiting for the shoe to ultimately drop, and, invariably, it does to a frenzied degree. While somewhat chaotic and not nearly as disheveled as your average Doors performance, Neurosis manages to keep the listener shadowed in the mysterious aura that only dissipates when the audience cheers.

Neurosis is a very heavy band; not even heavy in the strictly “metal” sense of the word, but just really hovering, like a layer of thick, acrid smoke belching out of a factory smoke stack that overlooks the freeway at dusk - it’s an eyesore to most, yet perfectly beautiful and enticing to others. When beauty is in the eye of the beholder, that eye is focused and decidedly introspective. By the time the band carries past “A Season in the Sky” and “At the End of the Road”, we’re dropped on the stoop of “Crawl Back In” and treated to a hodgepodge of sorrowed tones and vocals as the seven-minute song literally claws at the ground and pulls itself over the splintered floorboards in a vain attempt to find an end to whatever suffering is going on in that song. Then the tempo suddenly picks up and the clawing gets faster, more intense, and the limp body pulls itself to a bloodied apex amidst a pained voice and plundering bass line that can’t relent. For mere minutes you can suffer long the same pathway of Neurosis, and it’s as grand as anything you might imagine. It makes an already great album fantastic! “Distill” is almost Pink Floydish in its musical foray between peripheral sound semantics and restless abandon, and it sets the tone for the remainder of the album, casually ended on the subdued essence that is “The Doorway”, which is fitting for a show that was a myriad of ups and downs, like any good roller coaster of musical recklessness.    

All in all, some classic tunes were played at Roadburn, and now we can live the event over and over both as an audio experience in a darkened room or in full visual glory on our television, computer, whatever. I am overly impressed with this live album; as a rule, live albums fail to impress me all that much, but suffice it to say, as usual, I’m happy to be proven remiss on any occasion if it means I’m exposed to more good tunes in my journey. This is a very fine addition to the catalog, and any fan not lucky enough to witness this live should at least ingest the caustic utopia herein.     

TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1.  Given to the Rising
2.  Burn
3.  A Season in the Sky
4.  At the End of the Road
5.  Crawl Back in
6.  Distill
7.  Water is Not Enough
8.  Left to Wander
9.  The Doorway

Total playing time:  01:17:30

Release Date: August 30, 2010
Label: Neurot Recordings

Neurosis - Live at Roadburn 2007

Reviewer: Chris

March 31, 2011