Aaron Turner was already known around Boston by the time Isis started getting attention; there were widespread rumors that his record label Hydra Head was fueled by a large inheritance, and that its lavish, first-rate packaging and distribution were ostentatious examples of fantastic personal wealth. I've never bothered to determine the truth or falsity of this rumor, because, in addition to running an independent label as artful, consistent, and frankly slick as I've seen since Sub Pop, Turner fronts the best heavy metal band to emerge in almost as long.

As mid-80s hardcore punk began drawing from metal, the lines blurred and a hybrid genre, simply called "hardcore", emerged. This brief exploration was almost immediately co-opted by the same bullheaded, pseudo-political meandering that brought punk down, but a handful of great experiments made it through-- most importantly for our heroes in Isis, the first few Snapcase and Iceburn records. Their totalitarian design approach felt like a nod to Iceburn, whose Hephaestus LP counts among the most innovative and artistically solid statements made during 1990s hardcore. After two attention-getting EPs that meandered as often as they delivered (another Iceburn staple), Isis released Celestial, a wall of screaming, soaring post-hardcore guitars whose presence recalled the Melvins's opus Houdini, and whose persistent, almost hidden melodic undercurrent harkened back to the glory days of late-80s Sonic Youth.

With Celestial, Isis delivered one of the best releases of 2000, but it took word of mouth to find an audience, and like many critically lauded bands, they're releasing a follow-up to a superb record many in their audience have only recently discovered. The SGNL>05 EP offered two good jams recorded while touring, but their fans want Celestial II, and they want it now.

Oceanic is an album that's at once more precise and more exploratory than the predecessor it upstages. Each song is an anthem on par with the three finest on Celestial ("Deconstructing Towers", "Glisten" and the title track), but their song remains the same: a huge chorus, and many lengthy breakdowns. Where Oceanic succeeds is in its ability to hold your ear during those lulls, which is something the band could never do with such ease or consistency until now. On the first track, "The Beginning and the End" and "From Sinking", the breakdown jams-- with Cure licks by-way of Neurot fellows Tarantel-- are as engaging as the explosive choruses we've been prepped for.

"The Beginning and the End" also features formless female vocals, the moans of a siren in the background. Later, on "Weight", we find our previously muted Nereid ringing clear. The song stretches over ten minutes, and it's one-time Dirt Merchants singer Maria Christopher (who briefly resurfaced in a much darker band called 27 last year) that ensures you'll never lose interest in the song's onslaught where you may have in the past; her nervy, echoing chorus at its close is a challenge to both heavy metal and female vocalists, so often relegated to stereotypical modes of expression. The chorale of organs that ring on after "Weight" will have you imagining scenes not unlike Oceanic's cover.

Isis is one of the few heavy metal bands recording without regard for convention, and since Tool's debut, few have succeeded in such breathtaking fashion. Turner-- who's invariably screamed at the top of his lungs to this point-- actually sings on the record's closer, "Hym". Always with an ear for the industrial drone dramatized by Swans and Skinny Puppy in the 80s, and kept alive by Neurosis (who Turner has known since starting Hydra Head), Isis have graduated from their status as the best dirge orchestra around, consolidating a number of disparate sounds to create a dynamic far more evocative than mere loud-soft-loud repetition: these are caterwauls offset by meditation.

-Chris Ott, September 26th, 2002