[EFN]

I am into Jesu/GODFLESH stuffs and been hearing good reviews on ISIS, so can anybody suggest me a good introduction album to start with?

Thanks

 

[titaniumx3]

From what I've listened to so far, Oceanic and Panopticon are very similiar and have that raw and immense sound that Isis are known for so its probably best to start there (I can't decide between the two albums unfortunately,

). I think In The Absence Of Truth is excellent too and a fine progression from the previous two albums but I wouldn't recommend it untill you listen to those first.

One word of warning though is that the music is like a slow lumbering beast which needs time to release all its power; a little patience goes a long way when it comes to Isis.

 

[asebastian0]

Oceanic is my favorite of the bunch, a little on the heavier side, in comparison to Panopticon which I would suggest if you aren't really into hardcore as it is a tad more on the instrumental/post-rock side of things. Both are exemplary and you can't go wrong with either. From there you can move backwards into their catalog if you like their heavier stuff and forward if you prefer their rock side.

 

[asmox]

Panopticon would be my recommendation. Massive album.

The following is a review I originally wrote for Metal Archives -

Quote:

Originally Posted by asmox So, Panopticon arrives in the mail along with around twenty other albums that were purchased around various recommendations that were made in passing by a few fellow forum-goers. Never having heard the band before and not having much of an idea what to expect, I rip away the plastic wrap, pop the disc into my DVD drive, rip it, and get to listening. For the next hour, I would be subject to the aural equivalent of a majestic ocean body slowly swallowing the very foundations of the Earth, leaving in its wake a vast landscape of weeping sorrow and glimmering hope. That magnificent and devastating ocean has a name - and that name is Isis. Now, I don't have much of a clue as to where to go with this thing. Isis is not a hard band to describe, but it is very difficult to truly capture the essence of the sounds that extend from their instruments. Their music is a mostly instrumental, atmospheric, shifting beast that at times seems to extend out from your speakers and develop a sense of physical mass. This is heavy music... not the kind of heavy that slams you against the wall and leaves you with a splintered skull, but the kind of heavy that embraces and envelops you, weighs down on your very senses, and forcefully sweeps you away into the dark unknown. There are no double-bass runs, there are no blast beats, there are no solos, there are no "riffs"; there are only dense soundscapes littered with kinetic walls of aural energy, ambient stretches of space, and gently ringing guitars that embody the calm before the storm and make you welcome the inevitable devastation that is surely forthcoming. The perfect display of all these things is in the opening track, "So Did We". The song comes in with a slow, simple drum pattern and reasonably heavy guitars that are soon joined by Aaron Turner's distant, hardcore-ish yells. Turner is surprisingly unobtrusive, so people who have an aversion to this kind of vocal style shouldn't have much to fear. Regardless, this only goes on for around thirty seconds before the vocals cut out, the distortion disappears, and twin guitars come in with interweaving melodies that continue onwards, shifting, morphing, and changing until a bit past the two minute mark, where the music lapses back to a sound similar to the introductory passage. At three minutes, one guitar takes on a sort of sludgy droning, while the other rings clearly in the forefront, creating an eerie and moving aural scene. Soon, the droning transforms into a wash of noisy guitar atmospherics that blend smoothly into the background, while the tranquil reverberations retain their prominence in the foreground. At just under four minutes, the background guitar suddenly comes to the front and quickly diminishes into a short stretch of feedback, before fading out and being replaced once again by clean twin guitar tapestries that weave in and out of each other to create a melancholy, sorrow-filled stretch of airy music that evolves and builds on itself until just past the six minute mark. At this point, everything hits a climax and explodes into a wall of sound so enormous that it escapes from your headphones, clings to your walls, and begins to slowly close in on you from the outside, the weeping guitars and powerful cymbal washes enveloping you so wholly that you cannot help but to let go and lose yourself in the vastness of it all. It's utterly massive, soul crushing music. I cannot express enough the kind of impact the last few minutes of this song has on me. It's unreal. Indescribable. If you only hear one Isis song in your life, hear this one. ...and that, to one degree or another, is the sound of Isis. Unfortunately, this is the absolute high point of the album... and it's a shame that the band hits their peak so early. However, don't take that the wrong way. The rest of the album maintains a consistent and dynamic flow of quality, it just never really surpasses the celestial beauty and power of "So Did We" (save for possibly "In Fiction", which is also absolutely tremendous). The instrumentation across Panopticon is very minimalistic. There is no doubt in my mind that the guys in Isis can play should the need arise, but all the sounds on this album lend to the creation of mood and atmosphere, to the creation of the overbearing leviathan that forebodes the devastation and reconstruction of our modern musical landscape. It's so refreshing in today's mess of musical superficiality to see a bunch of young guys get up on a stage and channel this kind of artistic energy amongst themselves. I applaud them for that. Essential recording. Absolutely essential.

 

[titaniumx3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by asmox /img/forum/go_quote.gif Panopticon would be my recommendation. Massive album. The following is a review I originally wrote for Metal Archives -

Man, you hit nail on that so damn hard! I totally agree with your descriptions; amazing music.

 

[keanej6]

oceanic hands down.

 

[kwitel]

As usual, TITANIUM and ASMOX have given excellent and thorough responses. (ASMOX, that original review should have been published).

For me, I began with Oceanic-which is not the album I recommend starting with.
IMO, Panopticon is a alot more of an accessible album than Oceanic, the former being more atsmospheric, melodic and easy to listen to, while the latter is simply heavier and to some less appealing, the first couple of listens.

 

[kyleisgreat]

I like in the absence of truth more than oceanic, but either way you have to give isis some time, it definately need to grow on you.

 

[asmox]

In the Absence of Truth is actually my least favorite Isis album. There are just some things about it that really annoy me... namely Aaron's awful clean vocals and the highly monotonous and predictable song structures.

 

[EFN]

OK I'll start with Panopticon then.

* I can take slow boiling tunes. Jesu tracks are like those.

 

[RJW1138]

Nuthin' wrong with Panopticon, but Oceanic's quite fantastic.

 

[steviebee]

Heck, buy both!

You will absolutely not regret it...promise.

(Asmox - sweet review! Thx for sharing)

 

[DarkAngel]

I say you need all three most recent albums, but buy them in reverse order if that is not possible:
1)Oceanic
2)Panopticon
3)Abscence of Truth

 

[golgi]

This thread is helpful to me because I by mistake started with Isis on the Isis + Aerogramme in the Fishtank album. This is really good and all but not exactly representative of all their work. So I'm going to be making my next purchase soon which at this point is going to be In the Absence of Truth on vinyl since it's still available at a reasonable price. Then i'll probably get Panoptican on cd.