Isis (theband) - a discussion

[GHOSTDRONES]

1 hour ago, Gumbo72203 said:

Right, but for some reason I'm thinking it was still Matt who was insisting on the change.  I can't remember... I'll have to find that interview sometime.  

 

It's funny you see Wavering Radiant that way, because to me they are opposite.  ITAOT is so richly detailed and perfectly recorded for me.  It hits all the dopamine spots in my brain, and gets me off so hard haha.  Especially when you add some herbal accompaniment.  Which I don't do often, at all... but when I do.... man, there is really nothing that hits the spot for me quite like ITAOT.  

 

You can see the similarities though, between the albums, because what I realized last night while listening to "Wrist of Kings" is that on those last 2 albums, a lot of the drawn-out sections are really just the band alternating back and forth between 2 chords, with everybody else filling in licks and peripheral details to make it more rich and layered.  But on Wavering Radiant, that method of writing is stripped down to be true even for the heavy sections....  the guitar riffs on Wavering Radiant often lack for me, because they're so basic.  Like the verses on "Ghost Key" for instance.  Granted, you have other awesome riffs that just destroy like "Threshold of Transformation" but the way a lot of the heavy riffs on WR are written just seem too simple and basic for me.  It's an odd notion.  

 

Because if you listen to Wrist of Kings or Holy Tears, the clean sections in the middle are just Cliff holding down 2 chords, and alternating back and forth between them.  

 

Although I suppose you could make the argument that that style goes all the way back to "Celestial" because that song has that outro that's just the 2 strummed chords.....

Yes, Isis definitely has used the two chord method pretty much since their inception. Sometimes it just one chord picked or strummed differently.

 

 

[GHOSTDRONES]

Stupid extra posts

 

Edited September 11, 2016 by GHOSTDRONES

[GHOSTDRONES]

16 minutes ago, hammertime said:

I was a teenage metalhead, then got into hardcore and punk in college.  So the Mosquito Control EP was a big deal for me when it came out because it sounded like legit metal coming out of the hc scene.  I saw them at Michigan Fest in 2000 and fell even deeper in love.  I haven't kept up with them in years though...I think Panopticon is the last album of theirs I've owned.

Mosquito Control is great. their early material is often overlooked. 

 

 

[Gumbo72203]

1 hour ago, hammertime said:

I was a teenage metalhead, then got into hardcore and punk in college.  So the Mosquito Control EP was a big deal for me when it came out because it sounded like legit metal coming out of the hc scene.  I saw them at Michigan Fest in 2000 and fell even deeper in love.  I haven't kept up with them in years though...I think Panopticon is the last album of theirs I've owned.

I am so deeply envious of anybody who got to see them in this era.  That energy must have been so incredible.  

[Gumbo72203]

1 hour ago, GHOSTDRONES said:

Yes, Isis definitely has used the two chord method pretty much since their inception. Sometimes it just one chord picked or strummed differently.

 

 

Oh I know...  it was just interesting to me to notice that still, underneath it all, was them just moving back and forth between 2 chords, because as you get deeper into their career beginning with Oceanic, the material gets much more complex with all of the interweaving lines and counterpoints going on.  It was really cool to notice that.  

 

It's also super frustrating, because as a guitarist, I try to write stuff like this.  and I think to myself, "It's just two damn chords!!!  YOU CAN DO THIS TOO."  But I can't.  Haha.  I try, and some things come out cool, but for whatever reason, these guys just.... were able to create such rich tapestries over such simple foundations.  But maybe that's why it's so good, because it isn't overly complex at it's heart.  

[GHOSTDRONES]

10 minutes ago, Gumbo72203 said:

I am so deeply envious of anybody who got to see them in this era.  That energy must have been so incredible.  

The 1st time that I saw them had Caxide on bass, Harris on drums, Turner on guitar and vocals, Randy Larsen from Cable on guitar and Chris Mereschuk on auxiliary drums, samples and screams haha.

 

It was a crazy show.

[8ight]

Isis is cool, but Oceanic and Panopticon are the only albums I go back to. Aaron's made some cool music over the years (Sumac, Mamiffer, OMG).

[GHOSTDRONES]

3 minutes ago, 8ight said:

Isis is cool, but Oceanic and Panopticon are the only albums I go back to. Aaron's made some cool music over the years (Sumac, Mamiffer, OMG).

He definitely has... Jodis, House Of Low Culture, Greymachine, the second Twilight record, Lotus Eaters, all in addition to these. I enjoy just about everything which he has been involved.

[drds89]

Prob does belong over in the postmetal thread or EEM, but what the heck, it's difficult not to chime in. Like many bands with longevity, ISIS picked up and lost fans as their sound changed. Celestial seems to be the turning point in my retrospectoscope.

To the point, frighteningly again, I'm with the OP re: musical likes, in this case: ITAOT.  My ears hear Danny Carey's influence all over Aaron Harris's beats that move this album. I happen like Turner's clean vocals, and his growls are perfect. Oceanic, Panopticon, ITAOT and WR are hard to kick out of bed (and the Melvins split), but I do find myself singing Dulcinea and Holy Tears all the time. Panopticon may be a 9.9 in many aspects, still play it frequently, and it never grows old/ love it every time. I still own 3 copies of it. 

Early ISIS just abrades my soft, white Victorian underbelly

[Gumbo72203]

1 hour ago, drds89 said:

Prob does belong over in the postmetal thread or EEM, but what the heck, it's difficult not to chime in. Like many bands with longevity, ISIS picked up and lost fans as their sound changed. Celestial seems to be the turning point in my retrospectoscope.

To the point, frighteningly again, I'm with the OP re: musical likes, in this case: ITAOT.  My ears hear Danny Carey's influence all over Aaron Harris's beats that move this album. I happen like Turner's clean vocals, and his growls are perfect. Oceanic, Panopticon, ITAOT and WR are hard to kick out of bed (and the Melvins split), but I do find myself singing Dulcinea and Holy Tears all the time. Panopticon may be a 9.9 in many aspects, still play it frequently, and it never grows old/ love it every time. I still own 3 copies of it. 

Early ISIS just abrades my soft, white Victorian underbelly

Haha, that's crazy.  I was starting to think that there wasn't anybody else who felt that way about ITAOT.  It's funny too because that was the last album of theirs that I got into.  It took me FOREVER to digest and become familiar with.  It's just so deep.  

 

You're totally right about the Danny Carey stuff...  the Tool imprint is all over that album I feel like.  

[seku]

Just a few words from another Isis fan. I guess my love to their records is kind of "different type of love for each one", just like you can differentiate relationships with kids, wife and parents. Celestial is like a ten ton hammer, Oceanic is wild and beautiful at the same time, Panopticon seems to be (too) perfect album overall and ITAOT, while ovelooked at the beginning and causing a little disappointment when released, is the one I love to go back to, maybe even the most. One of the reasons, my wife accepts it, haha. They were touring (or supposed to tour, as in Europe) with Tool these days, and some parts sound like taken out of Tool's album. Just parts, though. And the other parts Gumbo mentioned, especially with headphones.. Amazing album. Maybe it lacks a bit of power in sound (production, is that it?), but thanks to it, it's different and stands out. Unfortunately, Wavering does nothing to me. It has what ITAOT is missing in terms of production, but songwriting or whatever you call it, doesn't do it for me. That's why I guess I'm happy they called it quit.

[The Vool]

Ya, ISIS is awesome...we all know this! I like the stuff all the others like...

 

Lately, I connect ISIS to two things:

1) Me walking around with an ISIS Shirt in our holidays in Turkey in February last year...WTF?

2) Every time I talk about ISIS with other people, I'm the only one who likes the Fishtank Split with Aereogramme! Especially LOW TIDE! One of my favorites by both bands...

 

 

Edited September 12, 2016 by Sasan

[Stress On The Sky]

1 hour ago, Sasan said:

Ya, ISIS is awesome...we all know this! I like the stuff all the others like...

 

Lately, I connect ISIS to two things:

1) Me walking around with an ISIS Shirt in our holidays in Turkey in February last year...WTF?

2) Every time I talk about ISIS with other people, I'm the only one who likes the Fishtank Split with Aereogramme! Especially LOW TIDE! One of my favorites by both bands...

 

 

Underrated gem. Although anything that Craig B touches is gold in my opinion. It saddens me greatly that Iain Cook (Aereogramme's guitarist) is probably now better known for Chvrches when his work with Aereogramme and The Unwinding Hours was spectacular.

I also have had to retire my ISIS t-shirts...

[Gumbo72203]

1 hour ago, Sasan said:

Ya, ISIS is awesome...we all know this! I like the stuff all the others like...

 

Lately, I connect ISIS to two things:

1) Me walking around with an ISIS Shirt in our holidays in Turkey in February last year...WTF?

2) Every time I talk about ISIS with other people, I'm the only one who likes the Fishtank Split with Aereogramme! Especially LOW TIDE! One of my favorites by both bands...

 

 

 

Two things in response to your post.  

 

A)  So, yesterday was September 11th, and I went to see the 1986 animated Transformers movie with my friends because a theater was showing it locally.  We decided to walk to get some food after, and it was only when we passed a firehouse when I realized what the day was.  And I was wearing one of my Isis shirts.  I never feel ashamed to wear their stuff in public, but for whatever reason, yesterday I felt a little foolish.  We went to a super crowded bar (because football) and I kept my arms folded over.  I didn't feel like having to defend myself against an angry mob of drunk football fans on 9/11.  But any time anybody has said anything, I've explained that they're one of my favorite bands and they broke up before all the middle east bullshit happened, and that I'm not going to let some dumb fucking terrorists control my life and prevent me from showing support for a band I love.  I was a job fair wearing my Isis hoodie, and even some Army National Guard dudes commended me for it.  By choosing to not wear their stuff, the terrorists have won because they've gained some control over you.  

 

B )  LOW TIDE!!!!  IS SO GOOD!!!!!!   Dude, I wish more people knew about that song.  The rest of the split I don't care at all about, because it's just noisy fuck-around songs to me, lacking true inspiration.  But Low Tide might be one of the greatest things they've ever done.  Those riffs are just tremendous, and the vocal chorus......  ugh.  

4 hours ago, seku said:

Just a few words from another Isis fan. I guess my love to their records is kind of "different type of love for each one", just like you can differentiate relationships with kids, wife and parents. Celestial is like a ten ton hammer, Oceanic is wild and beautiful at the same time, Panopticon seems to be (too) perfect album overall and ITAOT, while ovelooked at the beginning and causing a little disappointment when released, is the one I love to go back to, maybe even the most. One of the reasons, my wife accepts it, haha. They were touring (or supposed to tour, as in Europe) with Tool these days, and some parts sound like taken out of Tool's album. Just parts, though. And the other parts Gumbo mentioned, especially with headphones.. Amazing album. Maybe it lacks a bit of power in sound (production, is that it?), but thanks to it, it's different and stands out. Unfortunately, Wavering does nothing to me. It has what ITAOT is missing in terms of production, but songwriting or whatever you call it, doesn't do it for me. That's why I guess I'm happy they called it quit.

Yeah I know what you mean about the albums being different in your mind, different creatures.  I disagree about Panopticon though.  I don't get why people flip over that album the way they do, because to me it's their weakest full-length.  Which isn't saying it's bad, but to me, it runs out of steam after In Fiction.  The rest of the tracks just haven't grabbed me the way their other stuff does.

 

But I'm with you on In The Absence of Truth.... it's the album I go back to the most as well.  It just has everything I want from Isis in it.  That, and Oceanic obviously.  I still need to get Celestial and Mosquito Control on CD because I feel like I'd go to those just as often in my car.  But yeah, ITAOT is probably my most-played Isis album.  

[drds89]

The new Mustard Gas and Roses is instrumental ISIS (without Caxzide) and just the one track with those vocals. Late ISIS fans will love it / early ISIS fans will not.

[kjkenney]

I haven't worn my Isis shirt in months but I refuse to get rid of it. Stupid terrorists. Itaot for me too. Their entire discog is phenomenal but that and Panopticon are my go to. So much beauty, precision, and crushing power. WR is a good record, but didn't feel as inspired to me as some of their other stuff. Great breakup record though.

[coreystevens88]

Yeah, I love this band.  I'll have to take a group photo of my Isis t-shirt collection soon.

Oceanic is the crown jewel for me.  I also love The Red Sea EP, the title track is one of my favorites of theirs.

Another of my favorites is from ITAOT, 'Holy Tears,' but I actually prefer the extended version from Temporal.

[The Vool]

5 hours ago, drds89 said:

The new Mustard Gas and Roses is instrumental ISIS (without Caxzide) and just the one track with those vocals. Late ISIS fans will love it / early ISIS fans will not.

Listened to that one song...was great musically, but those vocals...

[Derek™]

1 hour ago, Sasan said:

Listened to that one song...was great musically, but those vocals...

There's just one track that has vocals, and it was (questionably) released as a single.  Just for what it's worth.  It also features those sort of folky, acoustic, Agalloch-esque strums that aren't anywhere else on the record.  Highly recommended.

[Gumbo72203]

9 hours ago, drds89 said:

The new Mustard Gas and Roses is instrumental ISIS (without Caxzide) and just the one track with those vocals. Late ISIS fans will love it / early ISIS fans will not.

 

I thought it was just Mike with 2 other people?  Also, that first single had some great instrumental stuff but I hated the vocals.  And the interview that accompanied it said that all future material has vocals.....  heh.  We'll see how that goes.  I really want to hear more of that album.  

[coreystevens88]

6 hours ago, Sasan said:

Listened to that one song...was great musically, but those vocals...

I also thought it was unusual to release the one song on the album with vocals as the first single, unless that is where future material is headed, as Mike said might be the case in the interview Gumbo mentioned.
Check out the song they released today, though:

http://www.metalsucks.net/2016/09/12/exclusive-track-premiere-mustard-gas-roses-let-roll-feat-members-isis-ides-gemini-chelsea-wolfe/

[Derek™]

18 minutes ago, coreystevens88 said:

I also thought it was unusual to release the one song on the album with vocals as the first single, unless that is where future material is headed, as Mike said might be the case in the interview Gumbo mentioned.
Check out the song they released today, though:

http://www.metalsucks.net/2016/09/12/exclusive-track-premiere-mustard-gas-roses-let-roll-feat-members-isis-ides-gemini-chelsea-wolfe/

Seriously; gotta' reiterate that anyone who is basing an early opinion off the first single should still check out the album.  No question about it.  Especially if you're a fan of Panopticon-era Isis and onward, like Don mentioned.

 

As a sidebar: glancing at the comments section on that link... anyone making Isis vs. ISIS jokes in 2016 can absolutely and completely right off forever.  How long has the terrorist group been buzzing in the news?  At least two years now, I'd assume.  If not longer.  There've been jokes about retiring t-shirts.  The band themselves clarified their page on Facebook.  We get it.  Chirping in about terrorist activity just because your garbage sense of humor can't grasp beyond the obvious low-hanging fruit isn't clever – not remotely.  It's pathetic to expect a chuckle or thumbs-up for drawing such a simple correlation, in my opinion.  Maybe I'm in a pissy mood this afternoon or perhaps I'm being a wet blanket, but it's such a played-out joke and I'm legitimately done with it.  All of my slow claps are reserved for the ham-fisted metalheads who feel like they deserve a pat on the back for lazily paying attention to buzzwords on the news, while also failing to realize the Egyptians arrived on the scene before both terrorists and post-metal outfits alike.

Edited September 13, 2016 by Derek™

[Gumbo72203]

6 minutes ago, Derek™ said:

Seriously; gotta' reiterate that anyone who is basing an early opinion off the first single should still check out the album.  No question about it.  Especially if you're a fan of Panopticon-era Isis and onward, like Don mentioned.

 

I'd like to hear more.  This newer tune didn't really grab me that much.  The tone is there; lots of crushing guitar sounds.  Maybe I need more listens.  

 

Spun "Mosquito Control" today before I left for class though.  That shit holds up so well.  It's so gnarly and so raunchy.  Life Under The Swatter, man.  

[Derek™]

3 minutes ago, Gumbo72203 said:

This newer tune didn't really grab me that much. 

Probably why I'm enjoying the album as much as I am, to be honest.

[TheGhostOfRandySavage]

Differing opinion...I used to really love Isis back when I was in high school, but can't really listen to them anymore. I had a couple bands that really fell out of favor for me, and Isis was one of them. Never thought it would happen, but it did.