I'm in sackcloth and ashes

Okay, I was wrong. I was terribly wrong. This is not just a passable album. With their penultimate release Isis turned me off initially (in 2006) but I was young and stupid then. IN THE ABSENCE OF TRUTH is indeed a journey one of its kind, a journey setted in a peculiar dream in which one experiences both things already seen but those unknown and singular as well. Landscape is blurry and distorted, seen through hundreds of rainy lenses. And there is bleakness.

Every album from the band has different sound that suits its concept and highlights its specific mood. IN THE ABSENCE OF TRUTH is obviously not an exception. As this is their most "post" and least "metal" record, the sound is more airy and organic than ever before. Its oneiric, gloomy atmosphere is highlighted with organic guitar distortion and naturally sounding drums. Since we're on the subject, the drumming is based mainly on tribal-sounding tom-tom patterns. It may seem a bit repetitive to some, but it suits the mood pretty well.

I took a dislike to this album due to strong Tool influence I immediately spotted in it. I loved Tool at the time and Isis seemed to insolently imitate them. I was obviously an ignoramus as this is not the whole truth about IN THE ABSENCE OF TRUTH. While being strongly influenced by Tool's evolutionary approach to composition and unique mood of LATERALUS, Isis adds a huge amount of their own style to the music. Sludgy heaviness and genuine depressive mood known from such albums as PANOPTICON and OCEANIC, pervades the record thoroughly. With the opening track the listener's mind is immediately flooded with feelings of anxiety and imminent menace. From now on the music takes him to terrains of sadness and shows him surreal, gloomy visions of life and death. It's an intriguing construct made of sludgy build-ups, atmospheric post-rock passages and emotional post-metal climaxes.

Plenty of post-rock albums oozed through my headphones within the space of the last 3 years and 99% of them bored me half to death. I'm glad I survived long enough to finally appreciate Isis. Although the album is a bit uneven, it has some real post-metal masterpieces on board. And most of all, unlike legions of uninspired post-rock clones, this REALLY is emotional and deep stuff. Let it sink in your mind. It's worth it.

TRACKS BY RATINGS: 10/10[masterpiece!!!]: Not in Rivers, but in Drops; Dulcinea || 9/10[fantastic!]: Holy Tears; 1,000 Shards || 8/10[great]: Wrists of Kings; Garden of Light || 7/10[very good]: Over Root and Thorn || 5/10[not bad]: Firdous E Bareen || OVERALL = 83/100

Hate-love relationship

My first encounter with Isis took place a few weeks after release of their fourth album, IN THE ABSENCE OF TRUTH, and I didn't like it then. Really, for 4 years I simply didn't like Isis (how dared I?). It started to change gradually a year ago and a few days ago something just clicked. My attitude towards this band has become, well, very positive. Now I know that this band is a damn grower. I needed a whole year to start to appreciate their output, and their last record, WAVERING RADIANT, has become my favourite part of it.

From all Isis albums I've listened to so far, this one has the best production. Mood changes, so frequent in their music, are well conveyed by pounding, organic drums and thick guitar distortion in turns with soft post-rock strumming. The sound is clean and professional but quite organic and pleasantly airy at the same time. Joe Barresi has done a good job as always.

WAVERING RADIANT is the most mature Isis album in every way, and even if it's still not a flawless masterpiece, it has grown on me enough to become one of my favourite post metal albums. While PANOPTICON is more straightforwardly depressive and atmospheric, the ambiance of WAVERING RADIANT is more difficult to define and definitely more intriguing. Old, melancholic and atmospheric Isis is still there but the band seem to plunge into more experimental regions on their final opus. With a subtle use of electronic spices, crushing waves of distortion power chords, post-rock passages and unmistakable vocals, they have created an aura of dark mystery and menacing unknown - all this immersed in an ambiance of psychedelic depression. This genuine, melancholic mood is what I love most about that band.

Aaron Turner's clean vocals are definitely an acquired taste (which I haven't completely acquired) and they can be tiresome sometimes. I still think he has done a good job. Generally speaking it's an excellent metal album - despite some composition shortcomings - and undoubtedly one of the best works in post metal and atmospheric sludge genres.

TRACKS BY RATINGS: 9/10[fantastic!]: Hall of the Dead; Stone to Wake a Serpent; Hand of the Host || 8/10[great]: Ghost Key; Threshold of Transformation || 7/10[very good]: 20 Minutes / 40 Years || OVERALL = 83/100

My next non-review is about my first musical thrills. Led Zeppelin's albums III and IV are two peaks of band's output and one of the best rock albums ever created, period. Their innovative, progressive approach to rhythm'n'blues and folk remains fascinating despite passing years and I just can't help but wonder: how was it possible to create such masterpieces one after another? At this point the reason behind this text becomes obvious - I'm not going to tell you why this stuff is amazing. There is music that just can't be described with words and given my deep attachment to Zeppelin's output - rooted in childhood which makes being objective even more difficult - I won't try to do it. I just want to express my admiration for this mature, timeless and unique masterpiece of hard rock/rhythm'n'blues. Everyone should listen to it before walking up stairway to heaven.

"Sister, I implore you, take him by the hand!"

Really, it's not going to be a review. It's a bit awkward to me, humble collaborator, to review this incredible album, an album I was listening to as a six-year-old with a flush on my cheeks. I'm pretty sure most of you have already listened to it, or at least heard the cult song written as a tribute to the immigrant (or the emigrant, it depends on the GDP of your country). You have not? Well, people, this is not the most popular Led Zeppelin album, but the most important for sure. With the first two albums, the band presented themselves as highly talented yet not really extraordinary hard-rock band. However, with their third album they divided the critics. To hell with them! To me, LED ZEPPELIN III inspired several generations of eclectic rock musicians, changed their approach to combining metal with folk music and influenced their musical sensitivity. Sounds awesome? Yes, just like the album!

French shoegaze is so... french

Les Discrets is a band that creates music full of grey landscapes, sounds emerging from a milky fog, shoegazing passages reminding me of fairy-tale drawings rather than fairy-tales themselves. Released by Prophecy Productions (Alcest, Antimatter), SEPTEMBRE ET SES DERNIÈRES PENSÉES is a dreamy, emotional, very bleak and most of all, quite successful album.

The sound suits the music perfectly. Production is clean yet quite organic and subdued. Guitars sound heavy when it's needed but Les Discrets stick to their post-rock and shoegazing side most of the time. To enhance dreamy atmosphere, vocal lines are treated with reverb. I must say that vocal style of Fursy Teyssier is definitely an acquired taste though. He's drawing from both shoegaze and post-punk styles and while I'm not completely convinced of his singing skills, reverb makes his performance more tolerable.

After a few hours with the music I began to realize how diverse influences one can find in the album. At first listen, SEPTEMBRE ET SES DERNIÈRES PENSÉES seems to be an ordinary french post-rock/shoegaze album in the vain of Alcest or Amesoeurs. Obviously, there are similarities among them since all these acts share at least one band member, but Les Discrets seem to be the most interesting of all of them. Stylistically, the band draws from post-rock ambiance and shoegaze arrangements but such genres as post-punk, black or doom metal are noticeable in the music as well. Not to mention very well crafted acoustic parts, deeply rooted in dark folk tradition.

Alcest's fans may love this album. I think it's one of the best efforts that french post/shoegaze scene has to offer. Even if you're not a fan of the style, there's enough of enchanting passages and emotion-provoking melodies, to get interested any fan of atmospheric rock.

TRACKS BY RATINGS: 8/10[great]: L'échappée; Song for Mountains; Svipdagr & Freyja || 7/10[very good]: Les Feuilles de l'olivier; Sur les Quais; Effet de Nuit; Chanson d'automne; Une Matinée d'Hiver || 5/10[not bad]: Septembre et Ses Dernières Pensées ||