[Akathriel]

Here is the allmusic guide intro to Isis, I think its fitting.
Isis is a monolithic, breathing, dense, incredibly spiritual musical experience that, while rooted in heavy metal and the punk/hardcore aesthetic, relies just as heavily on ambience, atmosphere, and tone as it does complexity, aggressiveness, and raw emotion. Not so much a band per se as a collective, the artisans who comprise the Boston quintet paint vivid and surreal conceptual compositions layering feedback, power chords, intense quiet/loud dynamics, and vocals that are often shouted, more often screamed, and occasionally sung.

Isis IS Post-metal. Other than Neurosis, no other band has shaped or influenced the genre as much. Heck, half of the bands you would put under that category are on Isis' label anyway (Hydrahead). Panopticon is probably the best introduction, and once you're acclimated you can move backwards to Oceanic, the real masterpiece. My favorite artist of all time, been a fan for 3-4 years.
As of march I will have seen Isis live 4 times in 6 months

. Any other huge Isis fans here?

Isis' LPs (In chronological order)

 

[J-Pak]

Great band. In the Absence of Truth is one of my favorites of 2006. Probably my favorite Isis album as well, though their first EP is also really good.

 

[Akathriel]

Really? IAOT is good but pales compared to either Panopticon or Oceanic. Oceanic was the first glimpse of the Isis sound, Panopticon developed it, and IAOT repeated it.

 

[J-Pak]

I'm not a big fan of Panopticon, but I really like Oceanic. The Mosquito Control EP is still probably my second favorite.

 

[Floodedstatue]

Big love to Isis. Their back catalogue is already stellar. And as mentioned they are killer live. I saw them play the whole of Oceanic live. That was something special, hoping to catch them again soon

 

[J-Pak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floodedstatue /img/forum/go_quote.gif Big love to Isis. Their back catalogue is already stellar. And as mentioned they are killer live. I saw them play the whole of Oceanic live. That was something special, hoping to catch them again soon

I saw them open for Tool. Short set, exactly 30 minutes. But man it blew away the main act.

 

[asebastian0]

Haha. I like how Oceanic and Panopticon get big pictures, Celestial and IAOT get slightly smaller pictures. My feelings toward Celestial and IAOT are similar to their sizes correlation to the larger images being Oceanic and Panopticon. Good but not great. Interestingly, I feel the same way about Explosions in the Sky's 4 LPs. 2 Masterpieces sandwiched by 2 albums which pale only in comparison to the artist's other work. Strange... A post-(insert variable here) trend?

Also, the synergy of any of these albums with the RS-1 is incredible. It is like being crushed. The soundwaves become something tangible, you can literally feel them pounding your ear.

 

[kwitel]

LOVE ISIS.
The experience of being swallowed hole by their crunching guitars on my HF-1's is like no other.
I have a hard time comparing/contrasting Panopticon and Oceanic-they are very differnet albums to me.
Panopticon is reserved for more relaxed listening while Oceanic comes on when I need to give my speakers a workout.

Havent picked up the new album yet...

 

[Akathriel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-Pak /img/forum/go_quote.gif I saw them open for Tool. Short set, exactly 30 minutes. But man it blew away the main act.

I had a similar experience. What really pissed me off however was that after the 30 minute set, they didn't BEGIN to set up for Tool for another 45 minutes

. Luckily I was able to see them 2 days before in a small club in Baltimore

.

Quote:

Originally Posted by asebastian0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Haha. I like how Oceanic and Panopticon get big pictures, Celestial and IAOT get slightly smaller pictures. My feelings toward Celestial and IAOT are similar to their sizes correlation to the larger images being Oceanic and Panopticon. Good but not great. Interestingly, I feel the same way about Explosions in the Sky's 4 LPs. 2 Masterpieces sandwiched by 2 albums which pale only in comparison to the artist's other work. Strange... A post-(insert variable here) trend?

Great observation and I definately agree with you. In context however, Oceanic towers over Panopticon. You can blame Amazon for the pictures hehe.

I keep toying with the idea of writing my IB extended essay (16,000 words) as a music paper on Oceanic, and its influence on Metal in the 21st century in general, and why it was so innovative even as a minimalist work. You would be hard pressed to find experimental metal today that does not state Isis as at least a minor influence. Whats holding me back is really my limited knowledge of guitars and even if I could examine the work chordally (with difficulty), I'm not qualified to address it technically.

 

[keanej6]

oceanic is my favorite too. of all my cd's my burner won't read oceanic! so i had to have a friend sent me his copies which are at 192kbps

. The song celestial gets my head banging every time.

sweet my 100th post is in dedication to isis. **** yea.

 

[Patu]

Good timing with this thread. I just played the first track from Oceanic album for the first time. I picked this band from the progressive rock thread if I remember correctly and decided to give it a try.

Well the first track started fine but then the vocals (I'm not sure if you can call them vocals) came in. Damn I just hate screaming and roaring which seems to be popular among some metal bands.

Now I'm playing the first track from In the Absence of Truth. Damn what a nice track and there's normal singing going on in the beginning of the track but in the end, screaming and roaring again. Why oh why.

Are there any albums with normal singing or will it be screaming and roaring all the way? For example, I love Opeth - Damnation. What a great album, but that's it. Their other albums aren't for me.

 

[keanej6]

akathriel - have you heard Giant Squid's "metridium Fields"? Post rock with male/female vocals. A masterpiece of an album as well. The more i listen to it the more i'm blown away at the genius and perfection of it.

 

[Akathriel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patu /img/forum/go_quote.gif Good timing with this thread. I just played the first track from Oceanic album for the first time. I picked this band from the progressive rock thread if I remember correctly and decided to give it a try. Well the first track started fine but then the vocals (I'm not sure if you can call them vocals) came in. Damn I just hate screaming and roaring which seems to be popular among some metal bands. Now I'm playing the first track from In the Absence of Truth. Damn what a nice track and there's normal singing going on in the beginning of the track but in the end, screaming and roaring again. Why oh why. Are there any albums with normal singing or will it be screaming and roaring all the way? For example, I love Opeth - Damnation. What a great album, but that's it. Their other albums aren't for me.

Its definately an acquired taste. Hardcore/Death lyrics add depth and texture to the music. Some of the best metal seemlessly integrates different vocal styles to match the dynamics of the music. If you force yourself to listen to it I think it will be very rewarding. I go through music very slowly, maybe an album a month. I try to pick music that is difficult to digest, and listen to it over...and over... and over and by the 60th spin I really start to see the beauty in it. This is not just true for extreme metal, but also for Contemporary, Baroque, Ambience etc... If it is instantly rewarding I often find it boring and formulaic in the long run. With that said I definately would reccomend Panopticon as an introduction to Isis, its both more approachable and truer to the rest of the catalogue than ITAOT. If you can break into Oceanic, you are in for a serious treat, Isis is some of the most emotionally intense music I've ever experienced. Incredibly minimal technically, incredibly complex conceptually (every Isis release has an intricate theme or story), and always brutally emotional. You will find less and less sung vocals the farther back you go, but Oceanic does have some excellent textured female vocals by 27's Maria Cristopher.
Quote:

have you heard Giant Squid's "metridium Fields"? Post rock with male/female vocals. A masterpiece of an album as well. The more i listen to it the more i'm blown away at the genius and perfection of it.

Yep, I've been listening to Squid quite a bit in the past couple months. A lot of fun. Right now I'm working on Battle of the Mice (hate to say it but just weird so far, will keep trying), 65 days of static (poppy but fun), and the Sunn O)))/Boris collaboration (not that great).

 

[J-Pak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patu /img/forum/go_quote.gif Good timing with this thread. I just played the first track from Oceanic album for the first time. I picked this band from the progressive rock thread if I remember correctly and decided to give it a try. Well the first track started fine but then the vocals (I'm not sure if you can call them vocals) came in. Damn I just hate screaming and roaring which seems to be popular among some metal bands. Now I'm playing the first track from In the Absence of Truth. Damn what a nice track and there's normal singing going on in the beginning of the track but in the end, screaming and roaring again. Why oh why. Are there any albums with normal singing or will it be screaming and roaring all the way? For example, I love Opeth - Damnation. What a great album, but that's it. Their other albums aren't for me.

Isis is a really distinct sound I can only classify as post-metal. Unfortunately I can't think of any other good post-metal bands. For more gentle post rock you should check out Explosions in the Sky, 65daysofstatic (postrock/noise/with a lot of drum n'bass elements), Do Make Say Think, and Mogwai. Mogwai's Mr Beast is probably their "loudest" album without any cookie monster vocals.

I agree with Akathriel that Isis is an incredibly deep, complex band (in my opinion Opeth is up there with them) that I'll never tire of because there is just so much to explore even with their small catalog.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akathriel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Its definately an acquired taste. Hardcore/Death lyrics add depth and texture to the music. Some of the best metal seemlessly integrates different vocal styles to match the dynamics of the music. If you force yourself to listen to it I think it will be very rewarding. I go through music very slowly, maybe an album a month. I try to pick music that is difficult to digest, and listen to it over...and over... and over and by the 60th spin I really start to see the beauty in it. This is not just true for extreme metal, but also for Contemporary, Baroque, Ambience etc... If it is instantly rewarding I often find it boring and formulaic in the long run. With that said I definately would reccomend Panopticon as an introduction to Isis, its both more approachable and truer to the rest of the catalogue than ITAOT. If you can break into Oceanic, you are in for a serious treat, Isis is some of the most emotionally intense music I've ever experienced. Incredibly minimal technically, incredibly complex conceptually (every Isis release has an intricate theme or story), and always brutally emotional. You will find less and less sung vocals the farther back you go, but Oceanic does have some excellent textured female vocals by 27's Maria Cristopher. Yep, I've been listening to Squid quite a bit in the past couple months. A lot of fun. Right now I'm working on Battle of the Mice (hate to say it but just weird so far, will keep trying), 65 days of static (poppy but fun), and the Sunn O)))/Boris collaboration (not that great).

You didn't like Altar by Sunn/Boris? I thought that was an incredible effort combing both bands' strengths perfectly.

I just listened to the just released Boris - Rainbow and it's very different from all their other work.

 

[Patu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akathriel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Its definately an acquired taste. Hardcore/Death lyrics add depth and texture to the music. Some of the best metal seemlessly integrates different vocal styles to match the dynamics of the music. If you force yourself to listen to it I think it will be very rewarding. I go through music very slowly, maybe an album a month. I try to pick music that is difficult to digest, and listen to it over...and over... and over and by the 60th spin I really start to see the beauty in it. This is not just true for extreme metal, but also for Contemporary, Baroque, Ambience etc... If it is instantly rewarding I often find it boring and formulaic in the long run. With that said I definately would reccomend Panopticon as an introduction to Isis, its both more approachable and truer to the rest of the catalogue than ITAOT. If you can break into Oceanic, you are in for a serious treat, Isis is some of the most emotionally intense music I've ever experienced. Incredibly minimal technically, incredibly complex conceptually (every Isis release has an intricate theme or story), and always brutally emotional. You will find less and less sung vocals the farther back you go, but Oceanic does have some excellent textured female vocals by 27's Maria Cristopher..

Now I've went through In the Absence of Truth, well the last track is still playing.

I must say that when it comes to the music without the lyrics, there hasn't been a single bad track on this album. Awesome tracks. I just can't stand hardcore/death lyrics (as you described them) at all. Fortunately most of the album is instrumental and lyrics (especially those death lyrics) are quite rare stuff on this album.

Oceanic will be next.