Isis - Wavering Radiant

I uploaded Isis's brand new album, Wavering Radiant, for a friend of mine and I figured I'd post it since it's pretty good. and anyway, aside from genuinely enjoying their music, I'm obligated by unwritten law to love them because they're from Boston, my beloved hometown.

Isis started out making loud, sludgy, doom metal-esque music. some of their more recent albums had more post-rock and prog elements, and now I guess they're, um, post-metal? I read that word in a review of this album and as lame as it is, I guess it sort of fits. their closest musical cousins are Neurosis, Pelican, and Mastodon.

despite their nontraditional song structures (none of the songs on this album are less than 7 minutes long, and I'm not sure any of them have recognizable choruses) Isis has always had melodies in mind when making music and often would throw in some surprisingly delicate elements, though on Wavering Radiant, that delicacy is overshadowed by an overall feeling of melancholy. that same atmospheric, bombastic sound is there, but fleshed out even further until it's almost overwhelming. the vocals veer between a gravelly scream and surprisingly lovely singing. overall, the album feels more polished and accessible, not as much of a challenge as their previous albums, but still thoroughly captivating and even kind of beautiful.

here's the first track off the album, "Hall of the Dead":




Isis - Wavering Radiant [2009]
download it

myspace.com/sgnl05
isistheband.com