This album came out a couple of decades ago. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
If there’s any band that could give Marilyn Manson the heebie jeebies, it might just be Bay Area gloom ’n’ doomers Neurosis.
Fusing industrial pummelling, gore-flick keyboard paranoia and murky, post-Sabbath sludge, these guys have been wallowing down where others fear to tread for more than a decade. Lately they’ve been heading for the borders conceptually. Their last two albums were released separately, but meant to be played simultaneously; Sovereign, their eighth release and first on their own label, is equal parts EP and CD-ROM. Its four songs add up to just 32 minutes of midtempo pounding, throbbing melodies that are perfect for sacrificing livestock (and/or virgins) and vocals that switch between guttural growls and lung-shredding wails. Put the disc in your computer, however, and you fall into a seemingly bottomless web of sensory overload — surreal animations, disturbing film clips and musical toys that can be accessed and combined in infinite ways, along with a link to Neurosis’ Web site, where more exclusive downloads await. If you have the guts, that is.
