Times of Grace

After Through Silver in Blood in 1996 was widely praised, and a long stretch of touring, the band went back into the studio in October 1998. This is the first record they made with Steve Albini engineering, and he became something like a permanent collaborator afterwards. It has been called the first album on which Neurosis started to sound like Neurosis. Albini's work on it has been singled out repeatedly, above all for its weight and for how completely it draws the listener in. The sound is natural and unpolished, and his method preserved that quality while sharpening it. Gothic rock and progressive rock are audible in it too, and the shape of what is called post-metal comes clear here. The record has a counterpart. Grace, an ambient album issued around the same time by the band's other identity, Tribes of Neurot, is designed so that the two can be played simultaneously. Loudwire and Stereogum have both placed Times of Grace at the top of the band's catalogue. The running order here is the original's as printed.