Oceanic is a progressive post-metal album from Boston post-rock outfit Isis. It is available on Ipecac Records (Mike Patton of Faith No More's label) and is their second full length album, the first being 'Celestial.'
The album follows one main theme, a despondent man, who finds his soulmate ... Read review
Advantages: hypnotic, beautiful lyrics and music, incredible depth and imagery. Original and genre-defining Disadvantages: Not easy listening!
Oceanic is a progressive post-metal album from Boston post-rock outfit Isis. It is available on Ipecac Records (Mike Patton of Faith No More's label) and is their second full length album, the first being 'Celestial.'
The album follows one main theme, a despondent man, who finds his soulmate and begins to feel a sense of completion at having gained a true and intense emotional connection with a female counterpart. By the fifth and ... ...a sleeve containing a little oceanic album-art alongside all of the lyrics, as well as a somewhat nebulous explanation of the story by Isis frontman Aaron Turner.
Oceanic is generally considered a turning point in Isis's style of music, moving away from the experimental sludge and drone heard in SGNL05 and Celestial, in favour of more ambient and ethereal backing noise coupled with some very repetitive, distinctive, unrelenting, crunching ... more
Oceanic is a progressive post-metal album from Boston post-rock outfit Isis. It is available on Ipecac Records (Mike Patton of Faith No More's label) and is their second full length album, the first being 'Celestial.'
The album follows one main theme, a despondent man, who finds his soulmate and begins to feel a sense of completion at having gained a true and intense emotional connection with a female counterpart. By the fifth and sixth tracks however, it becomes apparent that she has been engaging in a long and passionate incestuous relationship with her brother. The man is then left with only one way to deal with his tortured emotional state.
It comes with a sleeve containing a little oceanic album-art alongside all of the lyrics, as well as a somewhat nebulous explanation of the story by Isis frontman Aaron Turner.
Oceanic is generally considered a turning point in Isis's style of music, moving away from the experimental sludge and drone heard in SGNL05 and Celestial, in favour of more ambient and ethereal backing noise coupled with some very repetitive, distinctive, unrelenting, crunching and distorted guitar hooks to form the foundation. This is then built upon almost systematically with clean guitar riffs and at one point, even female vocals, showing their slow transition into a post-rock group. All of these aspects become one by the end of the album, giving a sense of quiet awe and beauty previously unseen in Isis' wide-spanning genre groups.
The often tuneless vocals portray extreme torment in a very accurate manner. The lyrics may be seen as largely indecipherable due to the gruff, epic manner in which they are sung, but the juxtaposition of beautiful and meaningful words with jagged post-rock vocal stylings creates a real feel of a relationship between intense emotional torment and vast stretches of space. A key theme of this album seems to be vastness and monochromacy, something which can in many ways be attributed to the key subject matter - The Ocean. It is metaphysical nuances such as this in which bands like Converge and Godflesh fall short, sadly and incorrectly being tarred with the same brush as bands like Isis, Neurosis and Cult of Luna who, whilst occupying the same genre(s,) far excel such counterparts in lyrical themes and stylings.
Many consider this album to have spawned the phrase 'post-metal' due to the ill-defined boundaries of progressive rock, post-rock, hardcore and metal.
For fans of Red Sparowes, Tribes of Neurot, Pelican and Jesu.
Advantages: Original, powerful, ground-breaking album Disadvantages: Not "immediate" if you need your music to be catchy
"Oceanic" is about as appropriate a name as one could possibly think of for this album by avant-garde post-metal band Isis, from 2002. Think of the breadth and power of the ocean, the depth and mystery of the water, and Isis have- perhaps unwittingly, perhaps not- given this album a name that sums up their sound pretty much perfectly.
What makes this piece of work particularly interesting is that it captures the band at a time which forms a bridge ... ...more polished and avant-garde direction. They had by this point evolved from being a heavier-than-anything (and quite shouty) metalcore band, into an outfit that were no longer afraid to evolve and show progressive, experimental touches to their music.
Many of these tracks are by no mans short. "Weight", for example, is over ten minutes long, a meandering but beautiful piece that heads purposefully, almost menacingly towards its final crescendo. ...
bagoproverbial 13.01.2007
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of mimicry, which superbly complements the subject matter -- The all-seeing.
The juxtaposition of clean vocals in the early tracks with such unrelentingly brutal riffs give a real sense of disdain, regret and resentment, the whole album an ongoing struggle between the main, seemingly female character and the tower. Panopticon in its midsection seems to lull the listener into a false sense of security, with clean guitars and soft bass, before pulling the lever and descending into more of the unforgiving sonic crunch we saw in Oceanic, this time with heavily effect-laden guitar pieces and the crushing sense of destruction from Celestial. It would seem that Panopticon is the result of Isis's two previous albums, (Oceanic and Celestial) merging into one progressive, sludge-laden masterpiece.
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Advantages: 7 pieces of perfection, majetic, melodic, heavy, drippin with atmosphere Disadvantages: Very little, some may complain it is too similiar to previous release 'Oceanic'
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