a hardcore punk band, performing a blend of hardcore and heavy metal inspired by British punk and described as crust punk or crossover. Already their second album The Word as Law (1990) incorporated avant-garde music and sludge metal, a genre marrying the ferocity of hardcore and the deep heaviness of doom metal. Thereafter, the band developed an original sound. Greg Moffitt of the BBC wrote that through a "process of evolution and refinement" beginning with their third album Souls at Zero (1992) and culminating in their fifth, Through Silver in Blood (1996), they "[took] heavy music to previously unimaginable spaces and, in the process, shape[d] what has thus far been metal's definitive response to the 21st century." The style Neurosis pioneered has been named post-metal, an "expansive, progressive and often apocalyptic" sound, "adding alien sounds, oddball instrumentation and atmospheric depth to [the] viscerally crushing approach" of sludge metal. Their sound has also been described as experimental/avant-garde metal, doom metal, post-hardcore, industrial metal, drone metal, stoner metal, psychedelic metal, progressive metal, alternative metal, art metal, and extreme metal, and as employing elements of folk. Steve Huey of AllMusic called it sludge infused with industrial, metal, and alternative rock, while Kory Grow of Rolling Stone called it a mix of "metal, punk, sludge and avant-garde experiments." When asked what the band's influences are in a 2000 interview, Scott Kelly stated: "Mainly ourselves at this point, but our foundation ranges through Black Flag, Pink Floyd, Die Kreuzen, Amebix, Jimi Hendrix, King Crimson, The Melvins, Celtic Frost and, of course, Hank Williams." In other interviews, members of the band also listed Throbbing Gristle, Joy Division, Black Sabbath, Crass, Voivod, Loop, Godflesh, Swans, and Townes Van Zandt as influences. In 2007, Steve Von Till stated that lyrically he and Kelly are inspired by literature, alluding to writers such as Cormac McCarthy, Jack London, and Paul Bowles. Some commentators note that both sonically and lyrically, Neurosis convey an intense emotional-spiritual effect. There is a mythical aspect to their imagery or a ritual aspect to their performance. Brandon Geist of Revolver relates that "Kelly and Von Till ... speak about their band in bold, quasi-religious, 'honor and glory'–type language. Words like commitment, sacrifice, surrender, and spirit come up a lot." Many bands and artists have cited Neurosis as an important inspiration, including Converge, Slipknot, Agalloch, Yob, Isis, Mastodon, Amenra, Kylesa, Pelican, Wolves in the Throne Room, Cobalt,