R.I.P. Isis | Music | Newswire | The A.V. Club.
This is unfortunate news for rock music fans and anyone who kept track of ISIS, one of the most popular post-metal acts in our time.
My first experience with ISIS was the album Oceanic, when I was in high school. Lot of the kids back then touted Tool as the most esoteric rock band out there. I respect Tool, but lot of those kids had their minds set on Tool and didn’t branch out and find other music that would often exceed them. ISIS is one of these bands.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHl4-NQM0Xc&w=425&h=344]
I started college the same semester that the 2004 album Panopticon came out. It was everything I expected college students to listen to at the time and fit well with my freshmen and sophomore experience.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgjT1WwV5qc&w=425&h=344]
Their next album, 2006’s In the Absence of Truth is another formative album in my development. Apparantly, the album’s theme was the tales of the Hashishins out of Persia. It is at this point that I formulated a theory of a connection between experimental metal and Ghazal music. I perceived that the appeal of this type of metal music to my generation had a connection to the Subcontinental appeal of Ghazal music.
2008’s Wavering Radiant was competent and worthy of replay, but a sense of sameness permeated the album.
Their vast pre-Oceanic library also deserves mention. At that point, the band was more sludge-oriented. the rare Sawblade EP included a cover of Godflesh’s Streetcleaner and. Oceanic: Remixes and Reinterpretation brought a lot of experimental electronic artists on board to tweak the ISIS sound. I played the Venetian Snares remix of The Beginning and the End on my radio show nearly every week.
Their final tour has no dates in Dallas, so my missing their Granada performance last summer is now more unfortunate.