Often labeled avant-metal, this Los Angeles fivesome really does
defy definitions. Following 2006’s In the Absence of Truth, the
band’s fifth album, Wavering Radiant, perpetuates Isis’
explorative sonic landscapes, many of them instrumental. Guitarist
Aaron Turner’s voice is brought in as a mere accent, sometimes offering
hoarse screams and melodic vocal lines. The seven-minute “20 Minutes/40
Years” carries you through what feels like an entire narrative without
Turner ever uttering an intelligible word. The rest of the album’s
seven tracks employ similar arcs, most clocking in at upward of 11
minutes. The album is strikingly beautiful at many moments (see “Stone
to Wake a Serpent”) and callously aggressive at others. But it’s the
juxtaposition of sounds that allows the music to be so
three-dimensional.
— Emily Zemler
This article appears in May 13-19, 2009.
