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''Times of Grace'' is the sixth studio album by Californian band
Neurosis
Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving chronic distress, but neither delusions nor hallucinations. The term is no longer used by the professional psychiatric community in the United States, having been eliminated from th ...
, released on May 4, 1999. It continued the band's development of the
post-metal
Post-metal is a music genre rooted in heavy metal but exploring approaches beyond metal conventions. It emerged in the 1990s with bands such as Neurosis and Godflesh, who transformed metal texture through experimental composition. In a way simil ...
genre and demonstrates
gothic rock
Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...
and
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
influences.
This album and ''
Grace
Grace may refer to:
Places United States
* Grace, Idaho, a city
* Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois
* Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office
* Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...
'', an
ambient companion by the band's alter-ego
Tribes of Neurot, are designed to play alongside each other.
''Times of Grace'' marked the beginning of the band's ongoing working relationship with recording engineer
Steve Albini
Steve Albini (pronounced ; born July 22, 1962) is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal en ...
.
Background and composition
In 1996, Neurosis released ''
Through Silver in Blood
''Through Silver in Blood'' is the fifth album from the American avant-garde metal band Neurosis. The album was released on April 2, 1996, and was their first record to be released through Relapse Records. The album was reissued in July 2009 on t ...
'' to critical and popular acclaim. Following extensive touring, the band returned to the studio in October 1998 to begin ''Times of Grace''.
As the band's debut release featuring the production of
Steve Albini
Steve Albini (pronounced ; born July 22, 1962) is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal en ...
, who would become a regular Neurosis collaborator, ''Times of Grace'' has been called "the first album where Neurosis started to sound like Neurosis."
Numerous publications praised Albini's work on the album, highlighting the weight and immersion of the production.
The album has a natural and unrefined sound, and Albini's work both preserved and accentuated that organic quality.
Critical reception
''Times of Grace'' received positive reviews.
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
writer Eduardo Rivadavia praised the album, saying, "With time and patience, ''Times of Grace'' may prove one of the group's most satisfying works for long-time converts, but it will most likely seem too exhausting to the uninitiated."
Writing for ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'', Joshua Klein highly appreciated the work of
Steve Albini
Steve Albini (pronounced ; born July 22, 1962) is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal en ...
, who gave a good sound quality to the album, but even higher he appreciated the Neurosis musicians themselves, who had done hard work with the "labyrinthine arrangements".
Greg Moffitt of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
wrote, "Replete with heaviness every bit as devastating as its
belligerent brother, this album’s effortless ebb and flow and kaleidoscopic spectrum of eerie tones lend it a dazzling, cinematic quality."
''
Stereogum
''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine.
''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...
'' ranked ''Times of Grace'' as Neurosis's best album, calling it "very, very heavy."
Accolades
Track listing
Personnel
Neurosis
*
Scott Kelly −
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
,
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
*
Steve Von Till
Stephen Francis Von Till Jr. is an American musician, poet, and educator, best known as the guitarist of the band Neurosis, in which he also shared lead vocals with former member Scott Kelly. Following Kelly's departure in 2019, he is now the ...
− guitar, vocals, percussion
*
Dave Edwardson
Dave Edwardson is an American musician who is the bassist and backing vocalist of Californian post-metal band Neurosis. He founded the band alongside Scott Kelly and Jason Roeder in 1985, and the group would later form experimental/noise group ...
−
bass,
backing vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...
,
Moog synthesizer
The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...
*
Jason Roeder
Jason Roeder is the drummer of the Oakland-based metal bands Neurosis and Sleep. And he played the drums for the fictional band Midnight Riders from Left 4 Dead series.
He played in the hardcore punk band Violent Coercion with Scott Kelly and ...
−
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
, percussion
*
Noah Landis
Noah Landis is an American keyboardist, best known as the keyboard player for American band Neurosis since 1995. Landis's keyboard sound varies between textural and moody overlays, sampled effects/noises and the occasional hook.
Landis also play ...
−
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
,
samples, synthesizer, vocals
Additional musicians
* John Goff − bagpipes
* Jackie Gratz − cello
* Jon Birdsong − cornet, tuba
* Wendy-O Matik − narrator
* Johannes Mager − trombone
* Kris Force − viola, violin
''Grace''
''Grace'' is the third
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
n
dark ambient band
Tribes of Neurot, a side project of
Neurosis
Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving chronic distress, but neither delusions nor hallucinations. The term is no longer used by the professional psychiatric community in the United States, having been eliminated from th ...
. Created at the same time as ''Times of Grace'' by the same people, the two albums are overlapping companions meant to be played simultaneously.
In 2009,
Neurot Recordings
Neurot Recordings is an American independent record label founded by members of avant-garde metal band Neurosis in 1999. Gradually expanding, it has showcased a variety of artists including a number of sludge metal, post-rock, and noise band ...
released ''Times of Grace'' and ''Grace'' as one 2xCD package.
Background and composition
From its inception, ''Grace'' was intended to be played alongside the 1999 Neurosis album ''Times of Grace''. About this simultaneity, the band wrote:
''Grace'' is composed mainly of sounds from ''Times of Grace'' that have been manipulated and distorted to preserve the original's tone while offering a new, more ambient take. The album features sound effects and
samples of dialogue placed in such a way that they interact with key moments from ''Times of Grace''. The band encourages listeneres to "experiment with different sources, different spaces, different speaker placement, and different volume relationships to bring an added dimension of life and spontaneity to the standard of passive stereo listening."
Unlike ''Times of Grace'', ''Grace'' was a largely solo endeavor for the band, receiving no production assistance from
Steve Albini
Steve Albini (pronounced ; born July 22, 1962) is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal en ...
.
Some publications drew comparison between ''Grace'' and ''
Zaireeka
''Zaireeka'' is the eighth studio album by American rock band The Flaming Lips, released on October 28, 1997, by Warner Bros. Records. The album consists of four CDs designed so that when played simultaneously on four separate audio systems, they ...
'' by
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, vocals), Derek Brown (keyb ...
,
although another Tribes of Neurot album, ''Cairn'', is much closer.
Critical reception
''Grace'' received mostly positive reviews, with some publications saying it can even be listened to by itself.
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
writer Steve Huey wrote, "It functions better as background music than as intense listening; for full attention, it's better combined with Times of Grace. Taking the two together underlines the ambition of the project more effectively, and it's a more active and interesting experience."
Writing for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, Greg Moffitt said, "''Grace'' itself makes for interesting if uneasy listening; together, the effect can be mind-blowing. It’s a journey that leaves the listener drained."