ISIS — Celestial (review)

ISIS — Celestial album cover Album · 2000 · Atmospheric Sludge Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Unitron
Before Isis really popularized Neurosis' blend of sludge metal and post-rock, with a bunch of mediocre copycats following in their wake and making classic sludge that much harder to find, Celestial showed how earth-shatteringly heavy they could be. Perfectly blending Neurosis' atmospheric take on sludge with the screeching aggression of Floor, this hits a perfect balance that their later albums lost. The title track's massive riff just stomps and stomps and remains one of the most thunderous songs in the entire metal genre.

To not sacrifice the heaviness of sludge or the subtleties of post-rock, they typically don't overlap the two sounds and use post-rock sections for contrast making them that much more atmospheric and the sludge that much sludgier. C.F.T. cools things down throughout a whole song though, and reminds me a lot of Golden Earring's song Silver Ships. It's a mellow ride until its galloping end, but the production and guitar/bass tones still make it a wall of sound.

This is hardcore sludge that can be played alongside both Neurosis and the likes of Crowbar and Floor.
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Triceratopsoil wrote:
more than 2 years ago
this album is so heavy, I love it
BitterJalapeno wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Nice review indeed. I actually haven't heard this but it sounds very much up my street.
Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Isis is definitely consistent, and their later albums are good for what they are, but are too post metal and not enough sludge for me personally. I like post rock influences in metal, but I don't really like post metal if that makes any sense.
Bosh66 wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Good review Khaliq. You sum up the album nicely. ISIS were always consistent in my book and this was a very strong debut.
siLLy puPPy wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I love all Isis albums. This one is actually one of my favorites.

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