Isis Wavering Radiant

The music of Isis is a suitable metaphor for their twelve-year career: patient, meticulous, fraught with tension and gradually building toward an apex of seismic proportions. They have successfully navigated the process of growing and evolving without disavowing their initial vision. On Wavering Radiant every component of this armory comes into equal play — an audiophile’s dream : grandiose without over-indulgence, epic without compromised focus.

This is their fifth and final full-length album, last released by Ipecac Recordings in 2009 and produced by Joe Barresi and recently remastered for vinyl by Mika Jussila. The band split just over a year after its release. This album continues the band’s history of lengthy songwriting, yet presents a slight departure from the soft-loud dynamics and post-metal aesthetic that characterized previous releases.

Reviewers noted a continued increase in melody, and many were quick to note an increased prominence of keyboardist Bryant Clifford Meyer’s work, using a Hammond B3 organ. In keeping with the band’s retinue of concept albums, a thematic strand runs throughout, dealing with dreams and Jungian psychology. Robotic Empire is thrilled once again to supply the gatefold, double-LP vinyl edition of this classic album.