Neurosis - A Sun That Never Sets

Rating:
Summary: a counterbalance to the other reviews
Review: First of all I should mention that I only watched a little more than half of the DVD, so keep that in mind.

I have to say that after reading the other reviews I was expecting something that was going to blow my mind with creativity and "abstraction," and this DVD did not.

The music was interesting and worth listening to (although the vocals were trying at times), but I found the visuals lacking. Five out of 7 of the tracks I watched were the same monochromatic reddish-orange, with a lone humanoid wandering in a desert, alternating with shots of the band playing behind a screen (always in the same clothes and positioning). There was one blue video, and one very enthralling (though also "red") video which consisted of strange, flowing, organic visuals. I was primed for the entire DVD to be "weird" and amorphous, and it just wasn't. It seems to me that the band has good ideas and intentions, and there is a lot of potential for deeper cool-ness, but they didn't quite pull it off in this DVD.

However, a serious fan of Neurosis' music would very likely still appreciate this DVD for other reasons than its purely visual aspects. It was by no means "bad," but in my mind it was not all it was cracked up to be.

(If you want to watch something absolutely ingenious, weird, and original, check out the Brothers' Quay Collection-- stop motion animation set to mostly violin&cello music. They were Tool's *cough* influence for most of their music videos.)

Rating:
Summary: mind blowing
Review: I bought this DVD as soon as I heard it existed and it was the most mind-blowing visual masterpiece I had ever seen. I've been a pretty big Neurosis fan for a few years and I've always thought a band like Neurosis or Tool should go out and make just a trippy...DVD and finally someone did it, and it blew away my expectations. sure beats putting dragon ball z on mute while listening to it!(yes, i've done it)

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful....
Review: If you are like me and have been touched by the masterpiece "A Sun That Never Sets" than this DVD is a dream come true. Each segment is surreal and creative... the visuals are very sharp, and the colors are just awesome (gotta love the deep, dark blue in "The Tide")The effects are just amazing... Just like the cd, these visuals are easy to just get lost in... My favorite would be the last one, Stones From the Sky... it is just amazing...

Its almost pointless to go on writing a review like this and to describe the visuals. Obviously, they aren't meant to be described. They have to be seen. If you are a fan of Neurosis...any band similar to Neurosis... hell, if you are just a music fan or someone who likes great surreal videos... this DVD is a MUST own.

As for the Tribes of Neurot addition, basically what they did was play the cd in an empty room, record it, then play it back and record it again many times.... the early songs represent the small amount of repetitions, up to Stones From the Sky, which was done 30 times... I don't know what to say about this... it is REALLY wierd... after 3 or 4 tracks, it just degenerates into eerie noise... the visuals are certainly not the quality of the others, but still fit as they are pretty creepy.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful....
Review: If you are like me and have been touched by the masterpiece "A Sun That Never Sets" than this DVD is a dream come true. Each segment is surreal and creative... the visuals are very sharp, and the colors are just awesome (gotta love the deep, dark blue in "The Tide")The effects are just amazing... Just like the cd, these visuals are easy to just get lost in... My favorite would be the last one, Stones From the Sky... it is just amazing...

Its almost pointless to go on writing a review like this and to describe the visuals. Obviously, they aren't meant to be described. They have to be seen. If you are a fan of Neurosis...any band similar to Neurosis... hell, if you are just a music fan or someone who likes great surreal videos... this DVD is a MUST own.

As for the Tribes of Neurot addition, basically what they did was play the cd in an empty room, record it, then play it back and record it again many times.... the early songs represent the small amount of repetitions, up to Stones From the Sky, which was done 30 times... I don't know what to say about this... it is REALLY wierd... after 3 or 4 tracks, it just degenerates into eerie noise... the visuals are certainly not the quality of the others, but still fit as they are pretty creepy.

Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!!!
Review: if you're a neurosis fan you must buy this dvd. Every video has stunning cinematography and are very well produced. Most metal heads won't get it, but neurosis have gone beyound that of metal and genre. buy now!

Rating:
Summary: Great visual experience
Review: The Songs:

Erode, The Tide, A Sun That Never Sets, From The Hill, Falling Unknown, From where Its Roots Run, Crawl Back In, Watchfire, Resound, Stones From The Sky

This experimental audio/ visual project is a great DVD that only NEUROSIS could pull off. I did not own the CD album of "A Sun That Never Sets" so I did not know what I was in for. My only complaint is the songs are mostly slow, but it makes the atomshpere of the visual images more pronounced. This DVD is well worth the money and it even has extras on here, making it well worth it. The extras are: Information on the recording of, chapter/ song search, interactive menus, booklet and the entire unreleased TRIBES OF NEUROT album with the visual enhancement. It would be hard to call this a DVD of music videos because it's not. Instead it is more of an atmoshperic visual that would go great in the backdrop of a social gathering or just for visual/audio interest. There is nothing violent or that could be considered inappropriate by older or younger viewers. With that said, there is a great sense of high quality put in to every aspect of this from each second of the DVD to the menus, right down to the DVD booklet that has all kinds of information. GREAT DVD!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: The good part let me down, but I enjoyed the bad part.
Review: Two separate 71 minute, 10 track programs. Menus come up unlabeled; hit one of your arrow buttons to see the choices.

Part 1, "The Sun That Never Sleeps", is the studio album, with ambitious, slick visuals that some would label (sorry) gothic. The visuals are too representational and distracting, with flashy & flickery events (damn your influence, MTV) ruining the sedate parts for me, especially on the first few tracks. What we got here's a rock video. Although the music has elements I approve, it rarely works overall. I'm reminded of Swans -- more tuneful than early Swans, more piledriver percussion than late Swans, often more rocking, but lacking a compelling vocalist to rescue the pretentious lyrics. (For inexpensive comparison's sake, I'll list the first Hair & Skin Trading Co album "Jo In Nine G Hell" as a successful album with this formula, even tho Neurosis play better, compose grander, and get deeper engineering.)

Some of this (title track, closer) would work nice under tremendous sound pressure and poisonous blood alcohol levels (I won't be trying this). It just doesn't bear close examination. I'm sure it's a gas live tho - when I start making money again I hope to attend one of this band's concerts.

Part 2, "A Resonant Sun" (unique to this DVD, no CD issue), is a deliberately degraded recording (a la Alvin Lucier's "I Am Sitting In A Room") of The Sun That Never Sleeps, mostly just a low bass throb with unintelligible ringing midrange tones and (on the first few tracks) distant sounds of a band where you can make out cymbals and little else. The visuals were quickly improvised, oscilloscope plus stock video effects, mostly non-representational. A total throwaway, should be "ambient" at best, and more likely an outright bore, but actually I like it plenty. I bet Neurosis do too, but figured their fans wouldn't know what to make of it, so they stuck it on the B-side, so to speak.

Seekers of heavy rock perdition might find "A Resonant Sun" a little slight; avant guardists might find it familiar and unchallenging; acid trippers will freak badly. Me I blew off "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" to watch this, no regrets. I'll put it on again some day soon.