NEUROSIS
– Live at Roadburn 2007
Neurot Recordings
Written
in 2010
Live at Roadburn 2007 marks NEUROSIS’s first release
since 2007’s Given to the Rising, and—as the title plainly states—it documents
their headlining performance at Holland’s annual Roadburn Festival. According
to the band’s camp, they played before a devoted audience, which makes this
recording a notable entry in their extensive live history.
Music is, of course, a matter of taste. I won’t
pretend to evaluate NEUROSIS’s studio work from a fan’s perspective; their
blend of progressive sludge, post-hardcore, tribal rhythms, and ambient
textures has never resonated with me. To my ears, the result feels
monotonous—slow, grunting waves of sound with little dynamic variation. But
this is a live album, and that’s where my focus stays.
Live recordings are typically created for the band’s
dedicated followers, who already know what they’re getting into and won’t be
swayed by my personal preferences. What matters here is whether Live at
Roadburn 2007 succeeds as a live document. And this is where the album falters.
The performance is executed with clinical precision:
no audible mistakes, no spontaneous shifts, no rough edges, no technical
imperfections. The crowd is almost entirely absent from the mix—silent during
the songs, audible only in brief bursts between them. There’s no interaction
from the stage, no introductions, no sense of presence or atmosphere. The
result feels less like a captured moment in front of an audience and more like
a meticulously polished studio session packaged as a live release.
Whether this was actually recorded under pristine
conditions or simply mixed to sound that way, the outcome is the same: a live
album with virtually no live energy. For a band whose reputation rests heavily
on the immersive power of their performances, that absence is striking.
Fans may still appreciate the flawless execution, but
for anyone seeking the raw, unpredictable electricity that defines a memorable
live recording, Live at Roadburn 2007 offers little of that experience.
Christine
Parastatidou
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