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Editorial Reviews
2009 release from the Alternative Hard rockers, their fifth album overall. Grandiose without being over-indulgent, epic without compromising focus, Isis have resurrected the art of prioritizing the album over the individual songs. Wavering Radiant, though divided into seven pieces, is essentially one composition. With producer Joe Barresi (Queens of the Stone Age, Melvins, Enslaved) behind the boards, the recording displays a sonic range and tonal depth in perfect step with the broad range of the band's capabilities. This is an audiophile's dream: rich in headphone candy, goose-bump inducing in its crescendos, majestic in its beauty, humbling in its devastating power. If radio still exists in 30 years, Wavering Radiant is the kind of record that obsessive DJs will play in its entirety during their graveyard shifts. But the huddled mass of Isis enthusiasts are already celebrating its arrival.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful
By Murat Batmaz
Format:Audio CD
Isis' Wavering Radiant is a tremendous accomplishment.
This album sees the band growing into a much tighter musical force, with greater focus on composition. The songs boast a feel of utter thoroughness, unlike the ones on their previous album, In the Absence of Truth. This is the result of all band members having written the album together rather than flying from the east coast to the west for sessions where every member tried to piece together their own riffs and melodies.
Although comprised by seven tracks, Wavering Radiant feels like a single composition broken down into parts for easier navigation purposes. There are nebuluos musical ideas linking the tracks together to achieve a cohesive vibe. Each cut is imbued with common musical threads, macro-compositional tonal centres, that strangely evoke previous (and following, as you go through the disc several times) numbers. What's more, sometimes the band employs the technique in the same track. The exchange of a single-riff theme between guitars, bass, drums, and even vocals on "Hand of the Host" is a prime example of this feat. Then, two tracks later, an awkwardly familiar theme appears and subtly glues them together.
Aaron Turner continues his classic harsh, raspy yells but also mixes it up with clean passages that are spread across the album. He is more courageous this time around, as he swiftly moves from his shattering growls to strangely addictive clean harmonies. In a way, this reminds me of Mikael Akerfeldt circa My Arms, Your Hearse. Though his clean singing still lacked greatly, it matched the flow of the record perfectly. The same case applies for Aaron Turner. His low, almost spoken-like delivery on the aforementioned "Hand of the Host" or the ending of "Stone to Wake a Serpent" is unexpectedly gripping given his abilities as a 'normal' singer. His clean singing has a dreamlike quality to it, and thus matches the lyrical theme of the album. Also, listen to the clean vocals on "20 Minutes / 40 Years," amidst the shimmering keyboards, heavy-duty bass, and nuanced drumming. He sounds absolutely desperate and convincing, especially when contrasted by the panicky growls later on.
Having worked with noted producer Joe Barresi (Melvins, Tool), the production is the best ever, with incredible tonal depth and sonic expanse. The drums sound a lot tighter, with some great Tool influence. There are tribal rhythms, fierce double-bass parts, and sparse, trance-like beats. The bass tone has never been better on an Isis album. Not only that, Jeff Caxide covers a broad spectrum. Rather than merely following the guitars or main melody, he assumes a central role in pretty much every song, providing counterpoint to the guitars and vocals as well as accentuating the songs' shifting moods. When he is not actively present in a progression, he serves a heavy low-end for added tension.
What cannot go unmentioned is keyboardist Bryant Clifford Meyer's contribution. His wide-ranging tone selections help achieve deeper atmospheres, especially on the Floydian pyschedelia that permeates "Threshold of Formation," by far their most epic and majestic album closer. Also, his slithering organs and shimmering keyboards draped over swirling guitar noise on the mid-section of "Hall of the Dead" are marvelous and extend the scope of the compositions.
Adam Jones from Tool appears on the album as a guest contributor, particularly shining on "Ghost Key," whose intro is both ghostly and beautifully fresh sounding. His use of modulation effects operates as a parameter to the wonderfully layered arrangement and nuanced drumming. He distills a textural element into the song which is patiently built into a quiet acoustic coda.
Wavering Radiant is an excellent body of work. This may be the album I've listened to most this year. It is absolutely addictive.
This album sees the band growing into a much tighter musical force, with greater focus on composition. The songs boast a feel of utter thoroughness, unlike the ones on their previous album, In the Absence of Truth. This is the result of all band members having written the album together rather than flying from the east coast to the west for sessions where every member tried to piece together their own riffs and melodies.
Although comprised by seven tracks, Wavering Radiant feels like a single composition broken down into parts for easier navigation purposes. There are nebuluos musical ideas linking the tracks together to achieve a cohesive vibe. Each cut is imbued with common musical threads, macro-compositional tonal centres, that strangely evoke previous (and following, as you go through the disc several times) numbers. What's more, sometimes the band employs the technique in the same track. The exchange of a single-riff theme between guitars, bass, drums, and even vocals on "Hand of the Host" is a prime example of this feat. Then, two tracks later, an awkwardly familiar theme appears and subtly glues them together.
Aaron Turner continues his classic harsh, raspy yells but also mixes it up with clean passages that are spread across the album. He is more courageous this time around, as he swiftly moves from his shattering growls to strangely addictive clean harmonies. In a way, this reminds me of Mikael Akerfeldt circa My Arms, Your Hearse. Though his clean singing still lacked greatly, it matched the flow of the record perfectly. The same case applies for Aaron Turner. His low, almost spoken-like delivery on the aforementioned "Hand of the Host" or the ending of "Stone to Wake a Serpent" is unexpectedly gripping given his abilities as a 'normal' singer. His clean singing has a dreamlike quality to it, and thus matches the lyrical theme of the album. Also, listen to the clean vocals on "20 Minutes / 40 Years," amidst the shimmering keyboards, heavy-duty bass, and nuanced drumming. He sounds absolutely desperate and convincing, especially when contrasted by the panicky growls later on.
Having worked with noted producer Joe Barresi (Melvins, Tool), the production is the best ever, with incredible tonal depth and sonic expanse. The drums sound a lot tighter, with some great Tool influence. There are tribal rhythms, fierce double-bass parts, and sparse, trance-like beats. The bass tone has never been better on an Isis album. Not only that, Jeff Caxide covers a broad spectrum. Rather than merely following the guitars or main melody, he assumes a central role in pretty much every song, providing counterpoint to the guitars and vocals as well as accentuating the songs' shifting moods. When he is not actively present in a progression, he serves a heavy low-end for added tension.
What cannot go unmentioned is keyboardist Bryant Clifford Meyer's contribution. His wide-ranging tone selections help achieve deeper atmospheres, especially on the Floydian pyschedelia that permeates "Threshold of Formation," by far their most epic and majestic album closer. Also, his slithering organs and shimmering keyboards draped over swirling guitar noise on the mid-section of "Hall of the Dead" are marvelous and extend the scope of the compositions.
Adam Jones from Tool appears on the album as a guest contributor, particularly shining on "Ghost Key," whose intro is both ghostly and beautifully fresh sounding. His use of modulation effects operates as a parameter to the wonderfully layered arrangement and nuanced drumming. He distills a textural element into the song which is patiently built into a quiet acoustic coda.
Wavering Radiant is an excellent body of work. This may be the album I've listened to most this year. It is absolutely addictive.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Mike
Format:Audio CD
Ever since Isis moved to the West Coast, they started going toward a more mystic destination that's opposite of the darker sound they had when they were in Boston. Wavering Radiant continues the path they were on with In the Absence of Truth, only this time going along a path that needed a bit more clearing.
True to the direction the band was going in on ITAOT, the album is generally more up-tempo then their previous works and Aaron Turner may have more vocals on this record than any of the previous releases. However, the overall tone of the album is darker than their previous release, and that probably stems from their decision to part ways with long-time producer Matt Bayles and instead brought in "Evil" Joe Baressi to help the band restore some of grit in production.
As far as the songs go, it's mostly exactly what you'd expect from Isis: heavy songs that explore the space they're in and don't care to make time constraints. The difference I would think is that the band is starting to put as much emphasis on leads as they do on rhythm. The guitar work seems to be a bit more featured in this album than in albums past, the keyboards are definitely higher in the mix, and Aaron Turner is singing more, implementing both growls along to go with the "singing-as-an-instrument" motif that he's been going for since ITAOT (don't get that confused for the generic "good cop/bad cop" thing 41,793 other metal bands have going on.)
Overall, I really enjoy the album because the band's shown a considerable amount of growth since their inception and only continue to evolve. The album is great and the core songs of the album are fantastic. I would recommend this to fans of metal, progressive, and independent/alternative music. Based on the response I've gotten from people I know, this would probably appeal to any mainstream music fans who miss when the radio would play bands like Tool and Deftones.
True to the direction the band was going in on ITAOT, the album is generally more up-tempo then their previous works and Aaron Turner may have more vocals on this record than any of the previous releases. However, the overall tone of the album is darker than their previous release, and that probably stems from their decision to part ways with long-time producer Matt Bayles and instead brought in "Evil" Joe Baressi to help the band restore some of grit in production.
As far as the songs go, it's mostly exactly what you'd expect from Isis: heavy songs that explore the space they're in and don't care to make time constraints. The difference I would think is that the band is starting to put as much emphasis on leads as they do on rhythm. The guitar work seems to be a bit more featured in this album than in albums past, the keyboards are definitely higher in the mix, and Aaron Turner is singing more, implementing both growls along to go with the "singing-as-an-instrument" motif that he's been going for since ITAOT (don't get that confused for the generic "good cop/bad cop" thing 41,793 other metal bands have going on.)
Overall, I really enjoy the album because the band's shown a considerable amount of growth since their inception and only continue to evolve. The album is great and the core songs of the album are fantastic. I would recommend this to fans of metal, progressive, and independent/alternative music. Based on the response I've gotten from people I know, this would probably appeal to any mainstream music fans who miss when the radio would play bands like Tool and Deftones.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Řystein Bye
Format:Audio CD
This is not background music. This is music to listen to. If you invest som time, you will be rewarded. A combination of hardcore and prog rock. Isis plows new ground and take you on a journey you have never been on before. Simply fantastic.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
oh yes!
heard to this at the tattoo shop i patronise. kept asking 'who is this?' every time it came on. looked it up and had to have it. brilliant.
Published 5 months ago by garygoh
5.0 out of 5 stars
totally NOT worth the implosion
i arrived kinda late to the ISIS camp, despite picking up the 'mosquito control' ep on cassette when it dropped; however it never really hooked me at the time. Read more
Published 11 months ago by hunter s burroughs
4.0 out of 5 stars
More of the diversified sound of IN THE ABSENCE OF TRUTH
This was Isis's last album, released in 2009, and on it they pursue the same basic sound they first created with their previous album IN THE ABSENCE OF TRUTH (2006). Read more
Published 17 months ago by Autonomeus
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent
ISIS is one of those bands that never ceases to amaze me. They are able to "take you on a journey" with their music. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Codera
5.0 out of 5 stars
Genius
Isis outdid themselves with their final release, "Wavering Radiant". It's simply put a masterpiece from beginning to end. The production is amazing. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Massimo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jaw-dropping.
A lot of texture and atmosphere on this record. There are heavy moments, but this album is a lot more melodic and dynamic than past offerings. Read more
Published 24 months ago by desdemona
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing
This album is amazing. If you let you self go in a vulnerable state of mind this album will take you on a trip. Read more
Published on March 17, 2011 by Mikel
5.0 out of 5 stars
Isis bow out with an album as great as its predecessors.
Isis are one of those rare entities that almost defy critical analysis. Almost every one of their major works is celebrated and rightly so: they're great. Read more
Published on January 9, 2011 by Nicholas Foley
5.0 out of 5 stars
Complete
As usual, words can't very well describe the band... <Humble Attempt-> Give early Tool's rhythm section an extra 15 years of aging (think whiskey age), a healthy splash of the... Read more
Published on November 22, 2010 by cassembler
1.0 out of 5 stars
Isis have evolved into a world of nothingness
In their attempts to evolve their sound, Isis have instead diluted their essence and have produce an album so subtle there's almost nothing there. Read more
Published on November 7, 2010 by Pablo Gradolio
