The fivesome is led by singer-guitarist Aaron Turner, whose howls have been so entombed in a thick sonic mud that one might mistake Isis for an instrumental outfit. That's changing, if the new seven-minute song "Dulcinea" (on the group's MySpace page) is a bellwether for the forthcoming In the Absence of Truth, due out Halloween. The track features Turner's voice -- upfront, melodic, and fervent -- until the guitar lava erupts a few minutes in and obliterates everything in its path, finally yielding to a pretty, space-rock/post-rock outro.
Tool, the headliner, does everything Isis does, only more bombastically, elaborately, mystically, nihilistically, and dramatically. Better, however, is in the eye of the beholder.
