Search - Isis :: Panopticon

An Epic Auditory Experience

Michael Stillwagon | Boston, MA United States | 07/07/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As an avid Isis fan, I may be bias. However, Panopticon is by far their best work yet. Blending the intense sounds and coarse vocals with technical harmony and mind-blowing lyrics, Panopticon is an album that needs to be played straight through the first few listens in order to fully pull in all elements: proof of the importance of good production.



While some older fans have said that this was the begining of a more mainstream sound, my ears hear it differently. Starting off with "So Did We" (my favorite track of their's by far) and melting into "Backlit" shows how amazingly talented these guys are. The ability to hold onto a grunge-metal sound while still exploring the area in lighter tones is not an easy task, and Isis did more than pull it off: they perfected it.



I personally have told people I've met to buy Panopticon and if they didn't like it, I'd give them their money back. I've yet to have anyone request it."

Can anything top Oceanic?

Pharaoh | Erie, PA | 01/16/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In 2002 Isis hit the seas. Now they're talking about prisons. I always imaginated a "panopticon" with the warden at the center of a honeycomb of cells. Maybe that's not exactly it. I'm not much on the book learnin'. Luckily even people as stupid as me can appreciate Isis.



To cut to the chase: if you like Pelican, you'll like Isis. If you like Explosions in the Sky, you'll like Isis. If you like Neurosis... well, you might as well give them a shot. Isis might not reside on the same street as the aforementioned bands, but are definitely in the same area code. With a compressed, leviathan sound molded from granite riffs and sandpapered vocals, Isis are heavy enough for discerning metalheads but artistic enough for the avant-garde crowd. Panopicon expands on the atmospheric side of Isis that Oceanic introduced, but takes it a step further. There's no watery interludes, but the music pretty much follows the same pattern: Shoe-gazing riffs, gruff, indiscernible screaming, a submerged but still identifiable sense of melody. Songs and arpeggios come and go like waves crashing up on the shore.



My favorite song so far is "In Fiction." Like most of their epics, this one starts off slowly. Errant guitar picking and quiet, unobtrusive drumming establishes the mood. Slowly the riffs coalesce into something discernable, the tangled layers falling into place. It isn't long before parts form like shifting sands and the guitars become a raging current carrying you away. Even the bassist gets his chance to shine. If you can look past all the distortion there is really some beautiful stuff going on here, a grand, enveloping vision tying everything together. One of the best songs I've heard from them in a while.



Like their ideological brethren Neurosis and Cult of Luna, Isis create movements rather then songs. They cram more songwriting into one album then most bands do in their entire career. Sometimes the glacial pace and general letharginess of their music can test your patience, but these languid moments are always fleeting; the calm before the storm. It may sound like I'm overdoing it, but Isis really have a special thing going. They can lull you with their sedativeness or slam you with brute force, sometimes all in the same song. However you want to describe it, they are a little bit different from every band going today. The well is not yet dry for Turner and company.

"