Review by Allan on October 26, 2002.

When I bought “Enemy of the Sun”, the last Neurosis album to complete my collection, I was a bit mystified. Here is a band that has broken down a countless amount of barriers and taken leaps with each album they’ve ever made. They started out as hardcore punk and today are considered one of the most unique bands in our presence. Because I couldn’t quite put my finger on where they had taken those leaps of faith with “Enemy of the Sun” I found myself scratching my head. Nevertheless, after repeated listens to “Enemy of the Sun” Neurosis managed once again to leave their powerful music scrawled into the confines of my brain.

Neurosis’ previous landmark album “Souls at Zero” was a trip into the unimaginable. How Neurosis was going to surpass the acclaim wasn’t what was on their mind, it was how they were going to surpass themselves. Neurosis made it a point to dominate their composition skills. “Enemy of the Sun” shows early signs of the potential Neurosis sound. Perhaps not as early as “Souls At Zero”, but nobody could have predicted what was going to happen from that. “Enemy of the Sun” just painted the picture a little bit more.

It first started to show the repetitiveness a little more than previously. It’s got that droning, repetitive effect of later Neurosis going on but it’s certainly not set to high. The music is also very dense, much like the bands later works. It just crawls along like molasses, even if it is moving at a faster tempo at times. It’s just got that thick atmosphere surrounding it at all times. Neurosis also fused together the different sections a lot more tightly than before. They often play off each other instead of just making a transition from one to the next. The layers are certainly still there but just done a lot better. Where as on “Souls At Zero” you could immediately pick out the different layers “Enemy of the Sun” does its part in concealing them a bit more, so only when listening closely can you pick it apart.

I consider “Enemy of the Sun” the “Souls At Zero” part 2, however it certainly isn’t the same thing. Neurosis slightly progressed, but they didn’t go all out. It’s like a man in the dark feeling for his surroundings before taking his next step.

Bottom Line: Whether “Enemy of the Sun” is as good as “Souls or Zero” isn’t the question, or even what matters. What matters is that Neurosis is an unstoppable force and everything they’ve done so far has trampled over nearly everything else.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Originality: 9
Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 7
Overall: 8

Rating: 8 out of 10