Album: Wavering Radiant
Artist: ISIS
Genre: Post-Metal
Year: 2009
Label: Ipecac
ATTENTION: If you want, you can listen to me reading the review to you. Look for the media player at the bottom of this post. Take note: When I recorded myself reading this review it was early in the morning and I recorded it hastily in one go. I've since learned to record in parts and things will be much smoother from now on. I slur pretty badly on the word "Metal," it sounds like I'm saying "Mell." Like I said, things will be smoother from now on. Enjoy!
Review:
It would be easy to pigeonhole a band like ISIS. After all, the comparisons to groups like Tool and Neurosis come easily enough. I’ve heard some people go so far as to accuse ISIS of “ripping off” both of the aforementioned acts. While influences from (and alliances to) both Tool and Neurosis can be seen in ISIS’ music, to say that they are simply “ripping them off” is a gross misperception. While Neurosis sounds like a great deathly machine rolling through a vast desert and Tool’s music is the sound of your circulatory system having an out of body experience, ISIS’ vast sound churns and eddies like the ocean.
The day may be clear one minute, the sea shimmering like a great field of crystals, but then the clouds move in, the wind picks up and suddenly the once peaceful sea is a violent swirl of waves and currents. Your little boat is tossed about in the storm like a leaf. Things will seem to clear for a moment, but then it will pick up again in earnest. The tumultuous storm will become more and more violent, the waves almost capsizing you. And then, it will fade, and the waters will once again become a shimmering field of diamonds, as if it never even happened. This is why the ocean is the perfect metaphor for ISIS’ music. It flows like water and can sweep you away from yourself before you know what is happening.
On Wavering Radiant, ISIS’ brand of Metal combines elements of atmospheric sludge and Explosions In The Sky-like guitar cascades as well as Hardcore growling from front man and guitarist Aaron Turner. This is the basic formula for an ISIS album, but this time around, a few things are different. The first thing that I noticed was that Turner’s vocals, usually found buried in the mix beneath torrents of guitars, have been pushed further into the forefront. I guess it was only a matter of time before the front man wanted to be in the front.
It was initially surprising, usually it seems like the band would be playing and Turner would be shouting to be heard above the din. But this time, instead of yelling across the room at me, he’s stepped right up and is roaring in my face. Some people will be turned off by ISIS simply because of Turner’s vocals. He can sing, but the really important stuff comes out in a gravelly roar. It isn’t a death growl or a pig growl, just a regular growl, but it’s got a lot of rage in it and some people just won’t be able to take that. Turner’s voice can provide a sharp contrast to the transcendental beauty of the music his band creates.
Another major difference is the way the drums sound. Aaron Harris is a skilled drummer, but the drum sound on ISIS’ previous album, In The Absence Of Truth, was far more tribal and furious than on this one, where he seems to have returned a less primal sound. His drumming, along with Jeff Caxide’s moody bass lines, still provides excellent backing for the radiant guitars and glimmering electronics, but it just seems smaller, more contained.
There are seven tracks on this album, six actual musical pieces and one sound experiment. The title track, “Wavering Radiant,” is less than two minutes long and is essentially just filler, a bridge between part one and two of the album. ISIS included pieces like this on In The Absence of Truth as well and it didn’t make any sense to me then either. Ultimately though, that’s the album’s only real weak spot, you can skip it if you want, everything else is dandy. In the end, Wavering Radiant is a stellar addition to ISIS’ already sterling discography and a fine piece of music for any Metal lover. Though I do encourage fans of bands like Explosions In The Sky and Red Sparowes to check them out as well. You won’t be sorry.
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I wasn't too wild about this album. You point out that Harris' drums aren't what they've been on albums past and that proved to be a hard obstacle for me to overcome. Overall, I went in expecting more rough edges and instead found them all sanded away.
ReplyDeleteYeah. In The Absence Of Truth is better, but still, I liked this album quite a bit. This review was actually written a while ago and was intended to be published somewhere else, but the group I gave it to didn't feel like using it. That's one of the reasons it's here. I still believe what I wrote about this album, but I also acknowledge that when you compare it to previous works, it's not as good. Have you heard Absence?
ReplyDeleteI have indeed. I enjoyed it more than this one, although, by my own admission, I'm not the biggest Isis fan in the first place.
ReplyDelete