Isis are such an awesome post-metal band. Their 2004 release Panopticon is just absolutely incredible beyond words, I just love it. I got this album along with Oceanic (2002) last year, and I've quickly become a fan of Isis since then. Panopticon is just full of amazingly epic and atmospheric instrumental passages, sparse vocals, thundering and mind crippling riffs and beautiful soul soothing clean melodies, this entire album will embrace and envelop you while forcefully lure your mind away into a dark and vast unknown world. This album is definately a trip, no questions asked. Whenever I listen to a band like Isis, I sometimes like to imagine myself walking by myself on a nice warm beach or think about outer space and stuff like that. I really enjoy listening to Isis, especially after having a rough day at work and just simply chill out. Their music is just perfect for chilling out and wanting to get away from it all, it simply just takes you off into a whole different world. The production on here courtesy of Matt Bayles (who also produced Oceanic) is just simply top notch, and the musicianship of the band is incredibly tight throughout. Aaron Turner's vocals are very unique on here with an amazing combination of hardcore-ish yells and howls and sparse melodic clean singing. I really like the combination of harsh yells and clean singing on here, they definately fit the music. Just listen to 2:38 of track two "Backlit" where Aaron switches from harsh yells to clean singing back and forth, it's really amazing. The guitars of Turner and Mike Gallagher are absolutely incredible and monumental with heavy, tight, crushing and mind crippling riffs and beautifully atmospheric and clean melodies that'll soothe your mind and put you in dreamland, while electronics guru Cliff Meyer adds great textures that add to the atmosphere of the band's sound. Jeff Caxide and Aaron Harris both provide an excellently tight and powerful rhythm section with great smooth, tasty basslines from Caxide and simple yet hefty, powerful and effective drumming by Harris.
The first track "So Did We" is an awesome opener that kicks off this post-metal masterpiece, and it immediately starts off with heavy guitars and a slow and steady drum beat that are shortly joined by Turner's hardcore-ish howls until around 30 seconds, the song goes into a nice melodic passage, and then at 2:20, more heavier riffs come back into play with cleaner vocals from Turner backing them up, and then from the 3 minute mark to the very end, the song goes into an amazing instrumental passage that will leave you breathless. Track two "Backlit" is my favorite song on here that begins with soothing clean guitar melodies and a slow drum beat and smooth, sailing basslines, then around 1:36 the heavier guitars come barging in and they're quickly joined by Turner's soaring clean vocals, until the song goes back into more clean guitars at 2:07. My favorite part of the song is at 2:38 where Turner is switching from harsh yells to cleaner melodic singing over crippling walls of mammoth riffs.
The next song "In Fiction" is another fantastic track that starts off clean and melodic, until Turner's clean vocals come in at 4:16, and later the song gets heavier around 4:47 with heavier, distorted power chords, deep bass, and simple yet powerful hefty drums. Track four "Wills Dissolve" also starts off slow, clean and melodic, but later kicks into heavy riffing territory at 3:16, and I also like Harris's hefy drumming around 3:50. The next two songs "Syndic Calls" and "Altered Course" both continue this amazingly atmospheric journey (the latter mentioned "Altered Course" is a near 10 minute epic instrumental that features Tool bassist Justin Chancellor), and "Grinning Mouths" is an awesome album closer that ends this amazing post-metal journey in pure Isis fashion.
Stand-out tracks: Backlit, So Did We, In Fiction, Altered Course, and Wills Dissolve.
Overall, Panopticon is just absolutely flawless from start to finish in every single aspect of the word, and it also proves that metal can be embracing and enveloping and atmospheric while guiding you into a vast, unknown world. Sure, this album might be more melodic and not as heavy as Oceanic, but this is still an amazingly brilliant post-metal essential with no bad moments whatsoever. I highly recommend Panopticon to any fan of Isis, metal, post-metal, post-rock, hardcore, or just heavy atmopsheric music, plain and simple! Long Live Isis!!
I'm not disgusted Submitted on: 2009-05-06
I was well prepared to hear some really mediocre music when I decided to give Panopticon a listen, but instead, it's not the worst choice for someone looking to hear some (mostly) instrumental alternative rock disguised as some kind of important progressive rock album.
Nah, the music on Panopticon is basically the same kind of thing that a band such as Creed would do if someone were to listen exclusively to the guitars and drums (not similar to Creed as far as vocals are concerned though). There's honestly not much of a difference between this album and the guitar playing on any given Creed album.
I don't particularly like this album, but it's not the worst music out there. Despite what people may say, the music on here is basically the same thing as many of those countless, generic second rate altnerative rock bands, but without the annoying vocals... well, the vocals on Panapticon are still somewhat annoying, but there's not a whole LOT of them thank goodness, so the vocals can easily be overlooked.
I will admit there's some rather pleasant sounding atmospheric sections in a few of the tracks that remind me of Radiohead a little (obviously influenced by a legendary band such as Pink Floyd, but without the songwriting skills to allow the songs to actually *go* somewhere).
Still, in the end, I'm not disappointed at all. I went in expecting an average album, and while for the most part Panopticon *is* quite the average listening experience, someone who is a big fan of atmospheric guitar rock might find something interesting here. The key word there is *might*. But for people interested in something more interesting as far as atmosphere goes, Pink Floyd and the Alan Parsons Project have a lot more to offer.
Can anything top Oceanic? Submitted on: 2009-01-16
In 2002 Isis hit the seas. Now they're talking about prisons. I always imaginated a "panopticon" with the warden at the center of a honeycomb of cells. Maybe that's not exactly it. I'm not much on the book learnin'. Luckily even people as stupid as me can appreciate Isis.
To cut to the chase: if you like Pelican, you'll like Isis. If you like Explosions in the Sky, you'll like Isis. If you like Neurosis... well, you might as well give them a shot. Isis might not reside on the same street as the aforementioned bands, but are definitely in the same area code. With a compressed, leviathan sound molded from granite riffs and sandpapered vocals, Isis are heavy enough for discerning metalheads but artistic enough for the avant-garde crowd. Panopicon expands on the atmospheric side of Isis that Oceanic introduced, but takes it a step further. There's no watery interludes, but the music pretty much follows the same pattern: Shoe-gazing riffs, gruff, indiscernible screaming, a submerged but still identifiable sense of melody. Songs and arpeggios come and go like waves crashing up on the shore.
My favorite song so far is "In Fiction." Like most of their epics, this one starts off slowly. Errant guitar picking and quiet, unobtrusive drumming establishes the mood. Slowly the riffs coalesce into something discernable, the tangled layers falling into place. It isn't long before parts form like shifting sands and the guitars become a raging current carrying you away. Even the bassist gets his chance to shine. If you can look past all the distortion there is really some beautiful stuff going on here, a grand, enveloping vision tying everything together. One of the best songs I've heard from them in a while.
Like their ideological brethren Neurosis and Cult of Luna, Isis create movements rather then songs. They cram more songwriting into one album then most bands do in their entire career. Sometimes the glacial pace and general letharginess of their music can test your patience, but these languid moments are always fleeting; the calm before the storm. It may sound like I'm overdoing it, but Isis really have a special thing going. They can lull you with their sedativeness or slam you with brute force, sometimes all in the same song. However you want to describe it, they are a little bit different from every band going today. The well is not yet dry for Turner and company.
An Epic Auditory Experience Submitted on: 2008-07-07
As an avid Isis fan, I may be bias. However, Panopticon is by far their best work yet. Blending the intense sounds and coarse vocals with technical harmony and mind-blowing lyrics, Panopticon is an album that needs to be played straight through the first few listens in order to fully pull in all elements: proof of the importance of good production.
While some older fans have said that this was the begining of a more mainstream sound, my ears hear it differently. Starting off with "So Did We" (my favorite track of their's by far) and melting into "Backlit" shows how amazingly talented these guys are. The ability to hold onto a grunge-metal sound while still exploring the area in lighter tones is not an easy task, and Isis did more than pull it off: they perfected it.
I personally have told people I've met to buy Panopticon and if they didn't like it, I'd give them their money back. I've yet to have anyone request it.
Alternately melodic and majestic Submitted on: 2007-09-28
Panopticon sees Isis alternate between magnificent, heavy, distorted guitars / growling vocals and quieter, melodic clean guitars with slightly dodgy cleaner vocals. Aaron Turner has added a rasp to his cleaner vocals, so they are not quite as painful as on bits of Oceanic (Hym, for example), but he is still much better in his growling/screaming mode. I almost deducted a star for this, but the music is so good i couldn't bring myself to. Still, with better 'clean' vocals, i'd rate this 100/100, instead of, say, 90/100.
I was impressed by how different in atmosphere this was from Oceanic, and the rest of Isis' ouvre, while still retaining most of the elements that have earned them the acclaim they have gathered. I'd say this, or Celestial would be the best places to start for most of those new to Isis, if only because they seem to reflect the direction the band is heading in - earlier releases, such as The Red Sea are more unrelentingly heavy (which will suit some tastes, I admit),while I haven't been too impressed with what I've heard of In the Absence of Truth and am not sure if I will even buy it. Oceanic would also be a good choice, but Aaron's clean vocals on this, as mentioned earlier, are kind of excruciating at times, rather than merely cringe-worthy as on other releases.
Panopticon sees Isis master the art of the slow build, and several songs build and build tension until you're aching for the release of one of their violent, exquisite explosions of distorted guitar. I think this quality lifts the album above most of their previous work (though Celestial remains my favourite, most days at least)
A word on band comparisons: Isis seem to always be held up to the likes of Neurosis, Mogwai and Tool, and this strikes me as unfair. They have their own sound, and should be judged on their own merits. I'm a fan of the first two of these bands (have never quite 'got' Tool) - Isis and Mogwai have in common that make use of violent dynamic changes, but Isis employs this device much more often and are far more 'metal' than Mogwai. Neurosis are another band that do this, but their vocals are far more prominent - Isis treat vocals as another instrument and mix them further back far more than do Neurosis. Having said that, if you like the aforementioned bands, or Pelican, Red Sparowes, Russian Circles and the like, you might well enjoy this. The much-applied adjective 'epic' is not inappropriate.
Post-Metal Brilliance
I'm not disgusted