Neurosis
The Word As Law

THE REVIEW

1989. Who would have ever imagined that six guys from Oakland would break through the walls of music, inspiring dozens and dozens of bands, touring all over America and even Europe, churning out masterpieces like Through Silver in Blood?
Yet Neurosis already existed, and they had already released two studio albums. The Word As Law is their third album and it marks the beginning of the end of the group's first phase, the more hardcore phase, to be precise. 70 minutes of music that demonstrate a band not yet completely unique and indispensable as they would later become, but still capable of playing with sound senses (as my teachers say).

The tracklist is quite long and indeed it was difficult for me to listen to this album all at once. And I'm not the type to give up easily. The tracks capture the listener's eardrums, they are angry, energetic (hardcore!), the dirty and well-equalized guitars (sludge!), but they still lack that reflective and more exquisitely introspective component that the band would already partially assume in the more progressive Souls At Zero, to then culminate in the apocalypse of Through Silver in Blood.
Somewhat similar tracks alternate with each other, yet they are able to evoke that oppression and anguish that made them universally known.

Ultimately, not their best album. However, it contains some good moments and we can already savor the genius of these six musicians, worthy protagonists of the fervent international underground scene of the last decade.