Live at Roadburn 2007

To be honest, I'm usually not that into live albums. Three hundred and something odd reviews deep and this is my first review of a live album. I am willing to give them a chance with bands I'm obsessive about, and this is a pretty cool one. Seeing Neurosis live at Roadburn would be a hell of an experience, even more so back when this was released as they still had Josh Graham doing visuals for them. Seeing Neurosis live is still on my bucket list, and it's looking like it might happen this summer. Apparently they are a force to be reckoned with live; I've heard people who aren't fans of their newer stuff still say they are amazing live and even one or two people who aren't even into their albums.

The sound here, while (unsurprisingly) not album quality, is much better than the two "official bootleg" live albums they did a few years earlier. While the heavier sections can get a little muddy, the more ambient parts sound quite clear. The songs largely stay true to their studio renditions, but there's enough slight variation to keep it interesting. For example, the keyboards in "A Season in the Sky" are a bit different and near the end Steve's vocals get so gruff he's practically death growling. "Crawl Back In" sounds way more dreary than the studio recording and the weird vocal effect at the start of "At the End of the Road" is even crazier than on the album. They turn the end of "The Doorway" into this crazy psychedelic tribal drum jam, which is rad beyond fucking words.

It's a cool setlist for the albums they're working with, but I wish they'd go back a bit further than Times of Grace. Hell, they don't even have "Locust Star", which seems to have been a staple of their live set ever since Through Silver in Blood dropped. One of the main reasons I wish they'd go further back with the setlist is that there are barely any Dave Edwardson vocals here. I've said it before and I'll say it again - Neurosis needs to bring back Dave doing co-lead vocals. His style would have worked perfectly on Given to the Rising. However, it's a really solid setlist even if they are only working with a few albums, and the only thing I'd really want to change would to be swap out "Left to Wander" for another long Eye of Every Storm epic to go along with "A Season in the Sky".

Live at Roadburn is a thoroughly badass live album, with some of the coolest cover art ever to boot. Neurosis are a band that has done the live circuit extensively (lugging heavy-ass projection equipment across Europe, no less), but have drastically cut down around the turn of the century due to it beginning to burn them out (Steve has said something in an interview like"it starts to get depressing when you recognize a random truck stop in Indiana") and wanting to be there for their families and be able to hold down steady jobs. They're no doubt a band to catch if you get the chance - I know they're on my bucket list.