Isis - Panopticon
Rating
RIYL
PelicanExplosions in the Sky
Earthtone9
Godflesh
Neurosis
Label
IpecacTracklist
1. So Did We2. Backlit
3. In Fiction
4. Wills Dissolve
5. Syndic Calls
6. Altered Course
7. Grinning Mouths
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The road to acceptance is a perilous one, the road to music stardom all the more dangerous. It is with this idea in mind that many bands exist. Instead of desperately flailing, trying to grab at acceptance or stardom, these bands forge their own path and do what they find interesting. Isis is one of these bands. And while not many will give them credit for it, they are paving a path for acceptance. Acceptance of fully instrumental space metal. Without Isis, where would Pelican be?
The strangest part of all of this is that Isis is not an instrumental band. But they’re close enough to one for them to gently ease the casual listener from a world where music needs vocals and lyrics to a world where these are simply extraneous and oftentimes take away from the beauty of the listening world, the actual music, the guitars, drums, and bass that give the music its soul, mind, and body.
On Panopticon, lyrics are hard to come by. In fact, they probably only pop up about three times and it’s easy to see why they’re rarely utilized as they do not push the music forward nor even enhance what is going on behind them. The slow buzz of bass, the spacey atmospheric guitar effects, the laid-back style of drumming…sounds boring. But Isis is not boring. They’re too intellectual to be boring. Which begs the question, “How can one be intellectual while saying nothing?” Because, my boy, as everyone knows, music speaks volumes. Panopticon is the Chinese water torture of music. It starts slow, it stays slow in the middle, and it ends slow. But it will get your attention. It will hold your attention. It will enrapture you. It is powerful and mesmerizing. It has the capabilities to drive you utterly insane.
It’s a gorgeous monstrosity of sound, an album so full of life that it can only do one thing: Die young. 7 tracks young. 59 minutes young. You’ll put its picture on a shelf and weep when you look at it, reminded of everything that was right in your life, of the fact that everything can be swept away in an instant, a flurry of commotion that God himself could not have foreseen. And you will be all the more thankful for the time you had with it.
Gloom and doom, my boy, gloom and doom are the road to salvation. If you can make it through that, you can make it through anything. Instead of catharsis, we have introspection and a drive to move forward, to do what we know a lost one would have done. Isis is the band that drives this point most solidly home, without saying much. Just a gentle whisper in your ear and its arms around your shoulder, giving you the strength to carry on.
-- Ben Rice
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