The remaining members of post-metal progenitors Neurosis have responded to guitarist/vocalist Scott Kelly’s admission of years of familial abuse and domestic violence. Guess they more or less had to.

They leave it open as to what they may or may not do as a band, and yeah, Neurosis as you knew it before this weekend is probably done. And the band says so, Kelly said so in his widely-regarded-as-manipulative-bullshit statement this weekend, and I agree that this is bigger than a band. But also, Neurosis, this group of people, have influenced quite literally thousands of other artists. The ripple effect will be significant, aesthetically, economically, and within this particular creative niche, culturally.

The betrayal here is multi-tiered and visceral. As a fan, someone who supported Neurosis fiscally and promoted their work to others, I feel angry and, to the use the band’s word, disgusted, and I don’t know what to say about the statement below, about the timing on who knew what when and all that. They’re quick to distance themselves from Kelly, of course, but things are rarely ever so cut and dry, and the trust that was there, that what you were hearing on a Neurosis album was the truest representation of these artists as people is simply gone.

I would like to tell you I’ll never talk about this again, fuck this guy, he’s done, move on, but that seems optimistic.

Here’s what the band had to say:

A STATEMENT FROM NEUROSIS

We cannot overstate the level of disgust and disappointment we feel for a man who we once called Brother.

As a band, we parted ways with Scott Kelly at the end of 2019 after learning about severe acts of abuse he committed towards his family over the previous years. In the past, Scott had disclosed his marital difficulties and acts of verbal abuse, as well as his intention to get help and change his behaviors. The information we learned in 2019 made it clear Scott had crossed a line and there was no way back. We did not share this information out of respect for his wife’s direct request for privacy, and to honor the family’s wish not to let their experience become gossip in a music magazine. With Scott’s Facebook post of August 27, 2022 disclosing much of this information publicly, we can finally say what we believe needs to be said.

For the last twenty years we have lived far apart from one another and only saw Scott when meeting up to work on music or play shows. We had no idea what the reality was for his family when we were not around. By Scott’s own admission, his abuse was intentional, targeted, and a closely guarded secret – even from those of us closest to him.

Once we learned of his abuse it was difficult to reconcile the horrible information with the person we thought we knew. It’s not surprising he hid the abuse for so long because it is a betrayal of our ethics as bandmates, partners, parents, and human beings.

Since 2019, we have made numerous attempts to contact Scott. We wanted to have an honest talk about the status of the band and find out how he and his family were doing, but he has refused to speak with us for three years. And, in what we now see clearly to be a pattern, Scott refused to take responsibility for his actions. Having been through so much with someone for more than 35 years, one would expect some amount of closure, or at the very least a response.

Now, without returning any of the calls, texts, or e-mails of his bandmates and friends, Scott has made a public post about the situation. To us, this decision seems like another attempt at manipulation, another opportunity for his narcissism to control the narrative. Don’t allow Scott to make this about himself, it’s about the abuse his family has suffered.

Usually, we would view public openness and honesty about mental illness as brave and even productive. We just don’t believe that is the case here.

There is nothing brave about systematically abusing your wife and children.

There is nothing brave about confessing wrongdoing when you have not done the work to change your behavior.

There is nothing brave about refusing to speak honestly, or speak at all, with one’s closest friends and bandmates, people who have supported you and stuck by you for most of your life.

Compared to the impact of Scott’s actions on his family, the impact on our band pales in significance. Nevertheless, with the heartbreak and horror we also grieve for the loss of our life’s work and a legacy that was sacred to us.

Again, our primary concern is for the safety and well-being of Scott’s wife and children, as well as anyone else in a similar situation. If someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or abuse, please reach out to one of the many local or national resources available. One national resource is:

National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233 www.thehotline.org

If you or someone you know is suffering from mental health issues that could make you a danger to yourself or others, please get help before you hurt yourself or the people you love. One resource for that is:
www.988lifeline.org

This is the only statement we plan to make about this issue. In due course, when it’s appropriate, we will provide more information about our future musical endeavors, but that time is not now.

This, obviously, is bigger than music. This is a human being and their family. Given the circumstances, it doesn’t feel right to speculate what might happen with Neurosis or any of his other projects in the longer term, so I’ll just say that if this was the situation, he’s probably right to step back. We all know that ‘permanent’ is a fluid idea when it comes to things like band breakups and retirements, so if you’re down about the prospect of no more music from Kelly, first, maybe you’ve missed the point a little and want to look at that, and second, never say never. But again, there are larger concerns at play here.

Best to Scott Kelly’s family on behalf of this site and myself, and hope for healing all around.

If you or someone you know is suffering under domestic violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800-799-7233. And no, a hotline isn’t enough and one can feel trapped, paralyzed, terrorized. It happens every day. But if that’s you, know that you’re not alone no matter how much you’ve been made to feel you are.

From social media:

Scott Kelly on abusing family and retiring from music:

Due to recent events, I feel that I clearly need to address some rumors and set the record straight. For the past several years I have engaged in the emotional, financial, verbal and physical abuse of my wife and younger children. When I became paranoid that people were going to find out, I found ways to keep my wife and kids from work and school and created divisions with friends and family members. I became obsessed with control and used threats, manipulation, threats of self-harm and suicide, inflicted physical damage on people and their reputations all to keep that control. When I knew my wife was going to leave I tried to convince her and others that I was crazy, and seeing things, and that I did not know what I was doing. She tried to help me with therapy and psychiatrists. My lies and deceptions fell apart in front of the professionals. When my wife finally tried to leave, I stalked and harassed her day and night and caused her and our youngest to live in a constant state of fear. I have lied or told half truths to so many people about so much of this that I can’t keep track of them. I don’t want to lie about any of this anymore. I love my wife to no end. She is the best person that I know. She is intensely honest, loving and good to her core. This letter is massive simplification of the irreparable damage I have caused and the unforgivable things that I’ve done to her and our kids. To say more in this public forum would not help anyone. As the truth has started to leak out there have been people who have tried to blame my wife for my abuse to give me an out and people who have spread ridiculous and damaging rumors about her. This is fucked. She deserves so much better. If you are adopting this mentality or spreading these rumors you need to fucking stop. I have some serious issues that I am dealing with and I have separated myself from anyone who is connected with my public life so that I can focus on my own toxic shit. When my wife has been kind enough to answer questions about my absence, she has faced crazy accusations. There was a recent situation that was so fucked up that it necessitated immediate action on my part to set the record straight. My wife absolutely speaks for me in my absence and I have already said she is intensely honest. If you don’t want the truth definitely don’t ask her questions. Additionally it is never appropriate to approach or question our children.

I know now that choosing to live a public life and be onstage was the worst decision that I could have made given the way that I am. I have hidden behind the attention and unfounded respect and adulation. I used my social position to directly and indirectly manipulate all of you and to hide the abuse of my family. I got satisfaction from my deception and perceived control of everyone involved. I am 100% permanently retired from being a professional musician. Some people can be in a scene like this where there is no accountability and maintain their integrity. I cannot. My sole focus for the rest of my life is on taking care of my family, allowing them safe space to heal and rebuilding their trust. I hope putting this out there will protect my wife from further attacks and finally allow my family some peace.

—

If you were curious as to how Scott Kelly of Neurosis has spent the pandemic, this collaboration with Mathieu Vandekerckhove and Colin H. van Eeckhout of Amenra and Igor Cavalera (ex-Sepultura, Cavalera Conspiracy, Petbrick, etc.) would seem to answer the question. And yes, that’s all well and good — a band with pedigree. Amenra have released stuff through Neurot, toured with Neurosis and Deafbrick, on which Cavalera played, was on Neurot as well, so yeah, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that they’d collaborate at some point.

Honestly, what I have more trouble with here is the assertion that the band “formed in 2017.” Come on. Vandekerckhove and Kelly did a thing at that point, but they called the band Absent in Body and they called the record Plague God, and I have to wonder what’s wrong with just saying “this is a pandemic project?” Many, many people have seen lives and livelihoods upended, and everyone has been affected one way or the other. So maybe some creativity got routed into something new building on the one-off they’d done a few years earlier. From where I sit, that’s about the only good thing to come out of the last two years of this bullshit.

Video’s great. Of course it is. One more disc to buy:

ABSENT IN BODY (current and former members of AMENRA, NEUROSIS, SEPULTURA) ANNOUNCE DEBUT ALBUM, PLAGUE GOD, OUT MARCH 25

WATCH/PRE-ORDER:
orcd.co/absentinbody

ABSENT IN BODY make their Relapse Records debut with the terrifying new album Plague God, out March 25, 2022 on LP/CD/CS/Digital. Watch “The Acres/The Ache” music video and pre-order AT THIS LOCATION: https://orcd.co/absentinbody

Initially the brainchild of AMENRA guitarist Mathieu J. Vandekerckhove, and NEUROSIS vocalist/guitarist Scott Kelly, ABSENT IN BODY formed in 2017. Immediately recognizing their kinship, and with AMENRA frontman Colin H. Van Eeckhout brought in on vocals and bass, what emerged is a reflection of the intervening years of turbulence, extending it’s scope as it navigates across five stretches of unstable terrain. From the opening Rise From Ruins with Sepultura drummer, Iggor Cavelera’s tribal beat emerging from foreboding, near-subsonic oscillations to explode in a tide of corrosive riffs and feral howls, through Sarin’s steadfast, procession-through-purgatory groove, to The Half Rising Man’s matrix of organic/mechanic evolution, it’s an album in constant dialogue between the animalistic, the human and the industrial, and a hunger to distill a truth, something unpolluted from the fray.

Plague God doesn’t just give voice to these moments of truth, but in the band’s deep kinship integral to every claustrophobic judder, every stretch of atmospheric dread and helpless alias assumed, lies a freedom we both forget and attain at our peril.

Mathieu Vandekerckhove comments:

“We had not imposed any limitations or boundaries on ourselves to create this music. Everything happened without any compromise, we gathered and let inspiration run freely. It is the beauty and the strength of this album.”

Iggor Cavalera comments:

“It feels great to collaborate with such forward-thinking minds like Colin, Mathieu, and Scott on AIB. The music is dense and slowly brutal, very similar to the times we are living.”

Direct Plague God physical pre-order via Relapse.com is available HERE: https://store.relapse.com/absent-in-body-plague-god

“The Acres/The Ache” music video was filmed and edited by Mathieu Vandekerckhove.

https://www.facebook.com/AbsentInBody/
https://www.instagram.com/absent_in_body/
https://absentinbody.bandcamp.com/
www.relapse.com
www.facebook.com/RelapseRecords

Absent in Body, “The Acres/The Ache” official video

You might recall that the last episode of The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal was a look at the beginnings of Neurosis’ career, the first part of a deep-dive into their storied and wildly influential catalog. Well, as I said we would, we’re picking up where we left off. That was 2001’s A Sun That Never Sets, and this episode starts with the opening track of The Eye of Every Storm, which pushed those drone impulses even further and became the most spacious record the band has done to-date.

From there, we move chronologically into Given to the Rising and Honor Found in Decay as they renewed their commitment to crushing while still pushing into ever more atmospheric tendencies, having created the genre post-metal along the way, and ultimately ending with Fires Within Fires, their latest work, which encompassed a rawer approach nodding to the whole of what their sound has come to encompass over their 30-plus years. We close with “The Doorway” from Live at Roadburm 2007 as well to emphasize just how much of their impact is made on the stage. If you’ve never seen them, the answer is a lot of it.

Thanks for listening and/or reading. I hope you enjoy.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 07.09.21

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is July 23 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

I’ve done a couple whole-show-playing-one-band-type episodes of The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal before, but to my recollection this is the first time I’ll have dedicated two episodes to one band. Can you argue? Starting with Pain of Mind in 1985, the career and legacy of Neurosis is simply unparalleled, and to even get to listen to two hours of their material in a row, let alone talk about it on a silly radio show, is a personal treat, let alone of any critical importance or something any other human beings might dig.

We go from Pain of Mind through The Word as Law — quickly, admittedly, since those songs are short — and slam headfirst into Souls at Zero as the band’s style progressed into tribalist heavy and what was considered avant garde at the time and became the foundations on which post-metal was laid. Enemy of the Sun, Through Silver in Blood, Times of Grace, Sovereign, and finally A Sun That Never Sets is a lot of ground to cover, but consider how much is left. This doesn’t even include solo stuff or side-projects or the version of Times of Grace with the Tribes of Neurot release Grace synched up to it or any of that other awesome whatnot. Still, one does the best one can to get in as much as one can. Sometimes two hours just isn’t enough. So we’ll do four between this ep and the next one in two weeks.

Thanks for listening and/or reading. I hope you enjoy.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 06.25.21

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is July 9 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

I guess the last couple episodes I’ve been trying to mix up the approach a little, pull back from starting off with rock tracks, then getting heavy, then tripping out. It was feeling a little formulaic, maybe. Not that we didn’t trip out at the end last time, but I pushed a block of noise up front and that was different at least. This time I’m pulling back from just doing new music and throwing in some older stuff that’s just been on my brain. Some Elder, some Mars Red Sky, and mixing that in with Neurosis and Isis and new Bitchwax and a few bands from Latvia just because I found them all at the same time and figured I’d present them the same way.

Simple change, right? I don’t know about you but I get locked into modes of doing things — even the format of these posts carries over from one to the next — and every now and then I want to shift how it’s done. Not so much to take myself out of my own comfort zone — heaven forbid — but mostly so I can tell myself I’m not completely compulsive about everything even though, yes, I very much am. Whatever. You know what I’m saying.

I hope you enjoy the show.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at http://gimmemetal.com

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 09.04.20

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Sept. 25 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Thee Facebooks

I’ve seen two shows now at Brooklyn Steel, and the other one was Sleep, so needless to say I’m developing something of a crush on the massive warehouse-space-turned-venue, from its nearby public parking to the balcony space where one might, if the band is loud enough, feel the floor shake just a little bit. Needless to say, at both shows I’ve seen there, that particular phenomenon has occurred.

Three-band touring bill on a Sunday night: Brazil’s Deafkids, Seattle duo Bell Witch and post-metal’s own lawgivers, Neurosis — originally from Oakland but now more spread out along the West Coast and inland — headlining. I was interested to see Deafkids, having missed them at Roadburn earlier in the year, and Bell Witch have yet to disappoint anytime I’ve caught a set, but it was the thought of Neurosis in that room that got me out from under my grandfather’s pine tree and into Brooklyn for the show, rocking out to Sunday evening NPR all the way.

It was a relatively early start for Deafkids, but the three-piece from São Paulo made the most of their time and then some. Their sound is broad and encompassing enough that you can basically hear whatever you want to in it. Punk, psychedelia, organic techno, prog brilliance and space-garage rawness, experimentalism and barebones anti-craft, heavy riffs and pounding rhythms, modern disaffection and futurist ethereality — it’s all there. And at the same time, it’s jazz. Deafkids are the shape of jazz to come. I hadn’t realized. To me it like peak-era Ministry and most-lysergic Monster Magnet got together and decided hooks were for the weak, but again, you could hear anything in what they were doing.

Their 2019 full-length, Metaprogramação — which Neurosis released through their own Neurot Recordings imprint — is likewise stylistically ranging, but live, the effect was brilliant, most especially in the drums, which not only held together the effects wash when they wanted to, but through repetition became part of the overarching churn as offered by the guitar and bass. They were not a super-happy-funtime experience, but they were engrossing, demanding and earning attention from front to back for a set that felt short when it was over.

I heard someone say afterward that Bell Witch were playing a single song from their new album, as in, post-Mirror Reaper (review here), but I don’t think that’s true. I’ve been wrong before, but from the gradual pickup to the way they rolled in linear fashion through their final crashes and receded, it seemed to be a piece culled from that 83-minute 2017 single-song outing — might’ve just been the first half of it; the “As Above” portion of the 2CD release — with drummer/vocalist Jesse Shreibman and bassist/vocalist Dylan Desmond dug into the mournful weight of that album’s spacious emotionalism. Crushing they were, either way, but I was kind of shaking my head when they were done, wondering if I had been incorrect the whole time about what I was hearing. But no, I wasn’t.

Should they actually be moving past Mirror Reaper, they’ve got their work cut out for them in following it, but one might’ve said the same when they put out Four Phantoms (review here) in 2015, and in fact many did, so there. The darkness they conjure is luscious even at its most minimal, and though they didn’t have Aerial Ruin‘s Erik Moggridge to add vocals as he does on the studio version of “Mirror Reaper,” or the time to play the thing in its rather considerable entirety, they delivered a set that was as open as it was claustrophobic, excruciating in its patience but still vital in expression. They had a hard task preceding Neurosis on a Sunday night in Brooklyn, but they more than admirably faced that challenge.

Neurosis opened with the title-track of 2001’s A Sun that Never Sets (discussed here), and I decided about halfway through the song that if they walked off the stage after it without saying a word to the crowd, it still would’ve been worth the drive from NJ. Nearly 35 years on from their inception, Neurosis are the best live band I’ve ever seen. Their shows are on a different wavelength entirely from most acts, and when you go see Neurosis, whether it is your first time or your umpteenth time, it is reasonable to go in with high expectations. I found myself with eyes closed, earplugs mostly out for “End of the Harvest,” from 1999’s Times of Grace, which was the penultimate inclusion in the set and as deep into their discography as they went, but it was “Bending Light” and “Reach” from 2016’s Fires Within Fires (review here) that wound up making the greatest impression on me.

Entirely possible it was a mood thing, or the circumstance of where I was standing, but I seemed to hear more nuance in the guitars of Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly, more psychedelia in how they wove in with Noah Landis‘ ultra-crucial keys and samples, and of course with the weight of bassist Dave Edwardson and the intricate drumming of Jason Roeder, the raw impact of their heaviest moments did indeed shake the floor of Brooklyn Steel‘s balcony. “At the Well” and “Given to the Rising,” “To the Wind” and “My Heart for Deliverance” were certainly more than welcome, but I decided I needed a visit with Fires Within Fires, from which “A Shadow Memory” was also aired, its blend of atmospheric guitar and swinging crunch further encouraging the refresher. Was that album Neurosis‘ way of blending the punk of their roots with a forward-looking psych churn? Did I know it at the time? Was there something I missed, so caught up in the fact of their 30th anniversary? I wonder now.

A bit of homework, maybe, but before Neurosis sent the Sunday night crowd packing, they finished out with “Stones from the Sky,” the closer of A Sun that Never Sets, which was, as ever, a behemoth in its execution. Roeder seemed to change up his drums at the end, opening up the beat just a little bit as the song descended into chaos, and the effect was to make the sudden cut to silence all the more stark. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Neurosis do an encore, but I stood around for a while anyway, hoping they might decide on a whim to come out and roll through “Locust Star” just for the hell of it. No dice, but no complaints either.

In the leadup to this show, I was thinking about the first time I saw Neurosis, at the Theatre of the Living Arts in Philadelphia in 2004. They didn’t really tour at the time, but they were heralding the release of the just-recently-reissued Neurosis & Jarboe collaboration, as well as that’s year’s The Eye of Every Storm (review here). It was the kind of night that changes your perspective on live music. Having had that experience 15 years ago and been fortunate enough to see Neurosis multiple times over since, as they’ve returned to the road more regularly, I had a pretty good sense of what I was going into at Brooklyn Steel. They still managed to exceed expectation. May they go forever doing precisely that.

More pics after the jump. Thanks for reading.

Read more »

I guess this is about as experimental as Neurosis got during their most outwardly experimental phase — though I don’t know that I’d fight you if you wanted to argue either for The Eye of Every Storm or Tribes of Neurot‘s Grace for the distinction. Still their collaboration with Jarboe in 2003 stands alone as a moment unto itself in their catalog, and allowed them to explore ideas and textures they hadn’t before and haven’t since. I’ve wondered from time to time if they might do a sequel, but failing that, a remaster of the original will do nicely, thank you. Might be good thing to pick up from the merch table on their run of August shows, should you be fortunate enough to be in their path.

If not, there’s always the webstore, which is worth checking regularly anyhow, retail therapy and all that.

I’ve said too much.

The PR wire takes the lead:

NEUROSIS & JARBOE: Remastered Reissue Of Landmark Collaboration Out Friday Through Neurot Recordings; Album Now Streaming

Neurot Recordings is proud to reissue the landmark collaboration NEUROSIS & JARBOE, the sprawling album now streaming in its entirety ahead of its official worldwide release this Friday. Originally released in 2003, this revamped version of Neurosis & Jarboe is fully remastered by Bob Weston and features entirely new artwork created by Aaron Turner.

When two independent and distinct spheres overlap, the resulting ellipse tends to emphasize the most striking and powerful characteristics of each body. Such is the case with this particular collaboration between heavy music pioneers NEUROSIS and the multi-faceted performer JARBOE, who performed in Swans and who has collaborated with an array of people from Blixa Bargeld, J. G. Thirlwell, Attila Csihar, Bill Laswell, Merzbow, Justin K. Broadrick, Helen Money, Father Murphy, and many others. The musicians pull from one another some of the most harrowing and unusual sounds ever heard from either artist at the time; a sentiment which also rings true to some fifteen years later.

NEUROSIS’ Steve Von Till explains the idea behind the remastering; “Bob Weston [Chicago Mastering Service, and member of Shellac] worked closely with Noah [Landis, NEUROSIS] on making these new versions sound as good as the possibly can. Noah has the most trained critical ear for fidelity out of all of us being an engineer himself. We recorded this ourselves with consumer level Pro Tools back then, in order to be able to experiment at home in getting different sounds and writing spontaneously. The technology has come a long way since then and we thought we could run it through better digital to analog conversion and trusted Bob Weston to be able to bring out the best in it… This new mastered version is a bit more open, with a better stereo image, and better final EQ treatment.”

He continues about the original artwork, “Aaron felt he could create something that would unify the energy of both JARBOE and NEUROSIS in an elegant manner. We let him do his thing and I think it definitely adds to the mystery of the album and sets it apart from the rest of our catalog.”

The remastered Neurosis & Jarboe sees worldwide release this Friday, August 2nd through all digital providers, on CD, and for the first time on vinyl, through NEUROSIS’ own Neurot Recordings. The LP is pressed on silver metallic and black swirl colors for their US and EU distributors, and on red and black swirl exclusively for mailorder. Deathwish Inc. will exclusively share the LP in red transparent and gold metallic opaque swirl.

Neurosis tour dates:
w/ Bell Witch, Deafkids:
8/07/2019 The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
8/08/2019 Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC
8/09/2019 9:30 Club – Washington, DC
8/10/2019 Theatre Of Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
8/11/2019 Brooklyn Steel – Brooklyn, NY
8/13/2019 Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA
8/14/2019 Corona Theatre – Montreal, QC
8/15/2019 The Opera House – Toronto, ON
8/16/2019 St. Andrews Hall – Detroit, MI
8/17/2019 Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL

http://www.neurosis.com
http://www.facebook.com/officialneurosis
https://neurotrecordings.merchtable.com
http://www.neurotrecordings.com
http://www.facebook.com/neurotrecordings

Neurosis & Jarboe, Neurosis & Jarboe (2003/2019)