I saw Neurosis in San Fransisco this past weekend. What a fukkin' show. As if their cds weren't terrifying enough, seeing them live completes the experience. The energy coming off these guys was palpable. My old buddy Sam, who I was visiting and dragged to the show, told me he could "smell the music." That raw, melting smell when the amps are overdriven, the air is moving and compressing in unison throughout the whole venue, as if you have your nose in the speaker cab is how he described it. He said he's smelled the same thing at many Phish shows. Jimi Hendrix said that at a certain point, on certain nights, the amps start sweating. That's what this music is like. Pure aggression and energy and sorrow and fear, coupled with shining beauty and renewal and light. There is no other band like Neurosis. These guys play so hard, so intense. The surprising part about this music is that it's so slow. That's what makes it so powerful - there's a lot of room to move around in the music, and lots of time to think. Scott Kelly's voice has matured from "sounding like somebody's dying," as Mike put it so eloquently, into something more deep and primal and whole. It still sounds like the end of the world though. And Steve Von Till's voice is as beautiful and manly live as it is on the cds. This music has to be heard many times to be appreciated, but once you get past the chaos and destruction surrounding you, the melody and tone of the music shines at you like pure truth.

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in fields of time i've lain
to crawl the inner plane
awakened crystal pain
through and down by a
wall it come in waves
free and invisible
mother crawled away
to see the star

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once is enough, trial is alone.
grace fall, into us
all through the night, Father I crawled
sun of my soul, be revealed.
Walking amongst the stones from the sky
feeling their rhythm wash over me.
...
rite of this warring god.
destructive, alive, frees you now.
rivers of fear, don't you know?
vigil of faith, stills you now.
You've been shown, over and over, don't you know?
You've been shown, over and over, don't you know?