Neurotica Albums (3)
'Neurotica'
Release Date 6/25/2002
Tracks 11
Label Koch International
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Living in Dog Years'
Release Date 9/28/1999
Tracks 11
Label Newtown Music
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Neurotica's second album, Living in Dog Years, showed a vast improvement over their lackluster debut. Once again produced by AC/DC legend Brian Johnson (a resident of their native Sarasota), the album saw the band coming into their own as a groove-oriented hard rock outfit. Powered by insistent rockers like the title track, "Ride of Your Life," and "Touch the Sound," this was a pretty impressive affair, and it was no surprise that it eventually attracted the attention of Smackdown Records, which reutilized many of its tracks for the band's eponymous 2002 release. Whether Living in Dog Years' original, more straightforward hard rock arrangements fare better or worse than their transformed nu-metal counterparts is really a matter of opinion, but the band's versatility is already clearly on display here, thanks to the variety of styles explored on tunes like the melodic, Cult-like "Stars in My Eyes," the bluesy "Said She," and the ten-minute groove colossus "I Like It One Way." ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
A one-time lynchpin of the flourishing late-'80s Floridian death metal scene (when he fronted progressive extremists Atheist), singer Kelly Shaefer spent most of the '90s in semi-retirement before finally re-emerging with a new band called Neurotica in 1998. A significant departure from his former group's brutally inaccessible sound, Neurotica's first album, Seed, offered a much more uncomplicated and melodic yet still bruising style of metal, while introducing listeners already familiar with his grunting abilities to Shaefer's pretty decent singing voice. It also boasted a surprising cameo from AC/DC singer Brian Johnson, only here his is a producing role. Unfortunately, this metallic "dream team" can't do much to ignite Neurotica's competently executed, but exceedingly average songs, only a few of which ("Invisible Path," "One Day") leave any lasting impression. Thankfully, the band was just finding their legs here and would improve by leaps and bounds when it came time to release the following year's excellent Living in Dog Years. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
