Earlier this month when Neurosis claimed that “We need this”, it was something that extended beyond themselves. The “We”, a collectivism that has been a key facet of the band since they began in 1985.
Following their surprise new album, An Undying Love for a Burning World, Neurosis are proof that something can rise from the dead. In 2019, the band parted ways with co-founding member, Scott Kelly, after discovering his history of domestic abuse against his family. The remaining members keeping quiet out of respect for the privacy of Kelly’s family before details became public three years later when Kelly effectively cancelled himself.
At the time, it felt like a chapter in punk and metal history had ended in the most brutal fashion. Kelly, disappearing off the face of the earth, but also at the risk of taking his now former bandmates with him.
Since having knowledge of Kelly’s transgressions, despite the utmost sympathy for the band’s remaining members, Neurosis’ music has been difficult to engage with. Many of Kelly’s life experiences, undoubtedly baked into the band’s work. Granted, it’s indicative of many artists throughout history. An apparent hypocrisy remains when choosing to navigate through the minefield of “separating the artist from the art”. Is there a right or wrong answer? It’s a debate many choose to avoid in a world where discourse has decayed to a seemingly irreparable state.
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In Neurosis’ case, at the risk of sounding trite, perhaps those burdens are remedied by Kelly’s replacement, Aaron Turner. While people have lauded the decision by band co-founder, Dave Edwardson, Steve Von Till, Jason Roeder and Noah Landis to draft in their fellow post-metal pillar, in most people’s fantasy world, this was a logical move. No longer a fantasy, together Neurosis returns almost as if they never left. (Technically they didn’t, considering they never split up.)
Despite the unshakable post-metal tag thrust upon them since their game-changing alliance with Steve Albini, which began with their 1999 landmark, Times of Grace, all the way through to 2016’s Fires Within Fires, Neurosis has always been a punk band. After all, rising from the ashes is about the most punk thing a band could do in 2026. And that spirit only intensifies on An Undying Love for a Burning World.
Neurosis - An Undying Love for a Burning WorldOn their first releases in 10 years, Neurosis’ message is crystal clear. Von Till’s vocals, worn yet still a beautiful, malevolent force, as he parts with the urgent clarion call, We Are Torn Wide Open. More of a manifesto than a song, it’s as crucial as anything the band has delivered. A declaration of the disconnect and the divide between each other and the environment. The principles of human decency, diseased by narcissism. A new world where communicating more with our screens than each other has become standard fare, as isolation overrides collectivism.
On We Are Torn Wide Open, Von Till illuminates this detachment as poignantly as anyone ever has. Interconnected with Mirror Deep, a siege that hits like an avalanche, it possesses the kind brittle, live energy that sees Neurosis furiously launch into the crescendo.
On First Red Rays, Turner’s influence rubs off on his new bandmates with something that contains echoes to ISIS’ Wavering Radiant. It’s the moment where the SUMAC leader and Neurosis’ glorious worlds combine. And while Blind could have ended up on the side two of Times of Grace, the wandering sludge punk of Seething and Scattered is An Undying Love for a Burning World’s centerpiece. “We’re all disconnected / From all that is sacred” screams Von Till, all bark and bite, as Edwardson lands an equally devastating volley underneath the mix (“And from each other”).
Untethered follows down a similar path. A slab of no-nonsense crust-punk in yet another glaring indictment of the world’s ills (“The hive has lost its fucking mind”). However, it’s the final two songs that lead to some of the darkest places Neurosis have explored.
With jarring tonality and sharp metallic edges, In the Waiting Hours is like the monolith itself, as Turner delivers one of his finest performances in years. So too the closing epic, Last Light, where his voice slices through A.M. dread, and backed by Edwardson’s droning chug, Roeder’s hammering rhythms and Landis’ psych-infused synths, a menacing atmosphere emerges where it really does feel like the last light. The apocalypse, edging closer, and as Von Till claims that “Time ends heavy upon our skin”, there’s an acceptance that we’re all doomed for the dirt.
But not before some flickers of hope. Released on the Spring Equinox (forever guided by the environment, Von Till has made similar moves under his Harvestman moniker), Neurosis’ resumption feels right. In all its intricate, cascading walls of sound, naturally, An Undying Love for a Burning World is all-encompassing. Von Till and Turner’s alliance is every bit as striking as it suggests on paper. A new coalition trying to salvage something from the roots of hell, it’s the kind of strength and vision the band has stringently adhered to. And on, An Undying Love for a Burning World, as fiercely and as timely as ever, Neurosis meet adversity head on.
An Undying Love for a Burning World is out now via Neurot Recordings. Purchase from Bandcamp.
