ALBUMS WE WISH HAD MADE THE LIST: ISIS – OCEANIC
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 4:00pm by Sammy O'Hagar
Isis, Oceanic (Ipecac, 2002)
Aaron Turner – Vocals/Guitars
Michael Gallagher – Guitars
Jeff Caxide – Bass
Aaron Harris – Drums
Bryant Clifford Meyer – Electronics/Guitars/Vocals
Produced by Matt Bayles and Isis
Around three years ago, I reached a crossroads with metal. At the time, I was listening to Anaal Nathrakh, Vital Remains’ Dechristianize, and Guttural Secrete, and each of the three were the heaviest of their respective niche, in my opinion. But they were heavy to a degree where I genuinely couldn’t see music getting any heavier: where do you go when you’re already firing on all cylinders, and even in doing that, you’re firing more than most of your contemporaries? To be honest, with all three bands, a notch “heavier” would leave them as noise (in fact, listen to Anaal Nathrakh’s “Castigation and Betrayal” off of 2007’s otherwise un-noteworthy Hell is Empty and the Devils Are Here for proof), perhaps even so heavy they couldn’t support themselves. So it was from here that I went outward to see what bands could do with heaviness that didn’t involve trying to out-brutal or out-necro one another. It was here where I discovered drone doom, post-metal, and the like: bands that tested patience not by being loud and fast, but slow, bordering on meandering (and often crossing that border in the case of many lesser bands), creating soundscapes and spaces in lieu of obliterating them, focusing on building mood but not emotion. It was here I stumbled upon Isis, and specifically their perfect, still-career best album, Oceanic.
Isis’ quasi-mainstreaming of the much maligned “post-metal” (or at least its moniker) genre didn’t happen overnight, or even over the course of one album. While the band’s early releases rarely broke from worshipping at the altar of Neurosis and Godflesh, their debut full length, Celestial, was where the band started seeing the potential in the wide spaces between monolithic sludge riffs. The band fully realized that potential on Oceanic, an album of porcelain delicacy and harsh crescendos, at once majestic and mammoth. Supposedly a concept album about love, incest, rape, and suicide, it manages to never goes over the top, or even approach it. Oceanic’s victories are in subtlety and patience. But every call for patience is rewarded, with the band explosively reentering the picture after each jaunt off the map: see the crushing riffery of “Carry” and “From Sinking” and the epic closer “Hym” for proof. Like the element and object the album’s title evokes, the band skillfully ebbs and flows throughout the course of Oceanic.
But whereas Isis’ long jaunts into spindly post-rock guitar fog often get dismissed as boring and pointless, Oceanic makes every one count, creating bottomlessly lush textures to juxtapose their walls of sludgy guitar. And in a decade where the juxtaposition of beauty and harshness in metal meant a tone-deaf prick named Jared employing good cop/ bad cop vocals for his shitty metalcore band, Isis’ skillful and perfect use of it reinstated hope – arguably briefly and in vain – for the metal underground. Nowhere in Isis’ catalog before or since has this been more adeptly illustrated than on Oceanic, an album that takes residence beyond the limits reached by bands preoccupied with “heavy.” Grind and brutal death are content in sanding your face off, and black metal sees fit to violently burrow under your skin via harsh sonics and abrasive production; Isis, their forefathers, and disciples look to challenge your patience and perception of metal via sashaying on the line between beauty and brutality. While Guttural Secrete can reach 11, Isis know you have to twist the dial below it in order to make 11 matter. Oceanic is an album, not an endurance test.
-SO
+1
+2
Haha, nice attempt to reconcile with your readers. Too little too late though.
He’s giving his opinion on a record he would have liked to have seen on the list, whats wrong with that? A damn fine record it is too
That isnt reconciling at all. Who is he trying to make happy in this? He is just letting everyone know what he would have liked to be on the list.
This record gave, and still gives, me goosebumps. It is gorgeous.
Agreed. Still their best, and in my top ten of the decade, no doubt.
love isis
trippiness redefined
like neurosis on xanax
I, admittedly, don’t know much about these guys. I’m downloading as I’m writing this. They came to my little town (Gainesville, FL) a few months ago with Pelican and everyone went. I didn’t find out until after that how popular they are and how long they’ve been around.
I was at that show partner, and it did indeed kick loads of ass. Did you happen to go see Torche and Harvey Milk last night?
yes def their best although celestial was fucking awesome. they kinda just went downhill after this album, although panopticon was good, their two releases after this were less than appealing to me. this is a great album to fuck to also.
Great album.
Hell is Empty is actually my favorite album of theirs, lol. Much like Dark Tranquillity, they can do no wrong.
And DT deserved more than just 14 points for Fiction. Damage Done is a masterpiece. Dark Tranquillity is still possibly the greatest band to have ever emerged from the melodic death metal scene.
Amen to that brother. DT is one of the best kept secrets in metal, each and every one of their CDs is awesome… every album has a different flavor to it (folksy, thrashy, electronic), but all of them kill.
Oh, and check out some Intestinal Disgorge. That shit is brutal as fuck.
This is one of those rare albums that changed my whole outlook on music….what I listened to, played, etc. Right up there with FNM’s Angel Dust and Failure’s Fantastic Planet. All masterpieces in my book.
Failure FTW
ken andrews/self/year of the rabbit + autolux FTW2
Not my usual fare, but I liked ON….wanted to like Year of the Rabbit, but found it to be on the boring side. Ken Andrews definitely FTW though….
Me too. Loved the first ON record, but Year of the Rabbit was very inconsistent.
Fantastic Planet is a goddamned masterpiece.
mirrorthrone and bathory i just found my old bathory record now i gotta find a record player >.>
Far better than any album on the Top 21 list. One of the best metal albums of all time.
Five of my selections made the aggregate list, hooray! This album was also on my list, glad to see Sammy giving it some love.
I propose that a list (top 5 or 10) be made of every genre & sub genre of metal, i.e…Alternative, Advant-Garde, Black, Christian, Death, Doom, Drone, Emo, Extreme, Folk, Glam, Gothic, Grind, Groove, Industrial, Math, Melodic Death, Metalcore, Neo-Classical, “Nu-Metal”, Post-Metal, Progressive, (C)Rap, Screamo, Sludge, Speed, Stoner, Symphonic, Thrash, Viking, etc…. Any takers?
no
drone doom-post metal?????? the endless list of way retarded genre tags is just getting ridiculous.What happened to the good old days of having rock,metal and death metal and a very small handfull of others. o just dont get the never ending need to tag music in the smallest pigeon holes possible. Dude!!! Thats not metal….Thats totally post metal. Yo are crazy bro, there is no way you can call that post metal…if thats not sumeriancore drone metalkvltcore then I dont know what is!!!!
I listen to this CD at least 10 times a month while I read haha. It just flows so good. I liked panopticon just as well though
Oceanic.
A-Fucking-Men.
Although I like Panopticon better, this is still a great album!
seriously???? is isis even metal… I think not, just a big pile of ambient hipster garbage… go choke on a dick!
Totally, In my top 5 of the 00’s!!!
PANOPTICON > OCEANIC. But both rule obviously.
awesome review. got a related feeling when I listened Oceanic for the first time – it’s like a slow blues jam, only it’s metal and damn massive. gets you hooked immediately. I’ll listen to this and Panopticon forever, even though I don’t like their other albums. no prob — what they did in these two is more than enough to keep their names in metal history.
would never call myself a fan of this band but of all 4 songs ive heard by them the best came from this album
It’s a great album, no doubt. Wonder if you’ve given Wavering Radiant time to soak into your pores, though. I consider it their masterpiece.
I’ve tried and tried. WR just doesn’t do it for me
I wish a lot of other albums made the list, because as it stands that was the worst top 21 best metal albums list of all time.
I liked Isis better when they were called Neurosis. Sorry but no mention of Neurosis on this “List” is a total mindfuck. They’ve influenced everyone, from Mastodon to Gojira, Cult of Luna, Isis and countless other drone/doom bands.
i LOVE this album
Pretty fucking amazing album that should of made the list, and i agree that neurosis should also have totally made the list somewhere.
A Sun That Never Sets should be in a top 20 list of the last 20 years, never mind last 10.
Good album, but if it’s Isis we’re talking about, i prefer Panopticon. Or even Wavering Radiant, now that i think about it.
I wasn’t too keen on the album but after reading that i think i’ll give it another shot
1349?
Excellent choice. I’m pretty surprised this didn’t make the list, to be honest with you. A modern classic.
This album is absolutely beautiful.
I will admit that I’ve teared up to “From Sinking”
Isis’ most uniquely “Isis” album. Fucking massive.
this album sucks ass and the singer can’t sing