Souls at Zero is the album where Neurosis, a hardcore punk band on the fringes of post-hardcore, make a complete unexpected dive into the depths of sludge metal. While this is a true black and blue sludge metal album, vocalist Scott Kelly interestingly still sounds like a post-hardcore vocalist. It adds an extra layer of personality to Neurosis when compared to other sludge metal acts and Kelly’s razing vocals provide a perfect contrast to the slow gloomy sludge riffs, causing both of them to stand out more and leave a stronger impression.

You might expect this to be a problem and that the soaring tone of the vocals would clash with the damp guitar, but that’s not the case. Kelly’s anguished screams are a perfect fit for the tortuously haunting backing music and he sounds perfectly in place. It’s funny how such a seemingly minor and unintentional thing could go such a long way to making Neurosis stick out among their contemporaries. Of course, vocals aside, the atmosphere the other instruments make is still very well-done. But there was definitely some fat here that could’ve been trimmed, as is the main problem with a lot of post-metal albums.