Oceanic - Isis

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, ...
...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 ...

Mutalisk 11.07.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Oceanic - Isis

"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 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Oceanic - Isis