Isis is the Boston band that, between 2000 and 2009, made five studio albums and is counted among the pioneers of post-metal. This page covers the Isis band from Massachusetts, active from 1997 to 2010, with the same five-man line-up on every one of those records.

The short version

Isis formed in Boston in the autumn of 1997, founded by Aaron Turner on guitar and vocals, Jeff Caxide on bass, Chris Mereschuk on electronics and vocals and Aaron Harris on drums. Turner already ran the Hydra Head label. After two EPs the band settled into the line-up that recorded all its albums: Turner, Caxide, Harris, guitarist Michael Gallagher and Bryant Clifford Meyer on guitar, keyboards and electronics. The debut “Celestial” came out in April 2000 on Escape Artist; the next four albums, from “Oceanic” (2002) to “Wavering Radiant” (2009), appeared on Ipecac. The reference works describe Isis as a pioneer of post-metal, with roots in hardcore punk and doom, and list sludge metal and progressive metal among its styles. The band moved to Los Angeles in late 2003 and announced its end in May 2010.

Building the sound

The band played its first shows in the spring of 1998 and recorded a demo at Salad Days Studios. Mereschuk left after a summer 1998 East Coast tour, and in 1999 Michael Gallagher joined, followed after a brief spell by Jay Randall by Bryant Clifford Meyer. The early releases were “The Mosquito Control EP” (1998) on Escape Artist and “The Red Sea” (1999) on Second Nature. “Celestial” was recorded in January and February 2000 at The Outpost in Stoughton, Massachusetts, and produced by the band with Matt Bayles; Turner has said it deals with the erosion of privacy as technology advances. Its sister EP, “SGNL>05”, came out in 2001 on Neurot, the label run by Neurosis. AllMusic’s William York called “Celestial” the band’s best album, and Decibel later described it as a transitional record leading to “Oceanic”.

“Oceanic”, released by Ipecac in September 2002 and again produced with Bayles, is the album that collected the most honours from critics. Maria Christopher of the band 27 sings on three of its tracks. Pitchfork gave it 9.1 out of 10, Terrorizer named it its album of 2002, Decibel placed it fourth among the best albums of the decade, and Rolling Stone ranked it 72nd in its 2017 list of the greatest metal albums. Fact’s Robin Jahdi called the change in the band’s sound one of the decade’s more eye-opening metamorphoses.

Ipecac, Los Angeles and the end

“Panopticon” (October 2004) is a concept album named after Jeremy Bentham’s prison design and Michel Foucault’s later use of the idea, and it deals with the spread of surveillance technology. Justin Chancellor, the bassist of Tool, plays on the wordless “Altered Course”. Pitchfork’s Brandon Stosuy rated it 8.4 and judged it stronger than “Oceanic”, while Drowned in Sound’s Mike Diver gave it 10 out of 10. “In the Absence of Truth”, recorded in June and July 2006 and released on 31 October 2006, is built around perception and the line between illusion and reality; Turner named Borges’s “Labyrinths” and “Don Quixote” among its sources. Late that year Isis opened for Tool on its North American tour.

“Wavering Radiant”, produced by Joe Barresi, came out in 2009, on vinyl in April and on CD on 5 May. Tool’s Adam Jones added guitar to “Hall of the Dead” and keyboards to the title track. Pitchfork’s Roque Strew called it the band’s smartest and richest record. In April 2009 Isis won Best Underground Metal Act at Revolver’s Golden Gods. On 18 May 2010 the band announced it would split after one last tour, and the final show was in Montreal, where it had played its first concert, on 23 June 2010. A split EP with the Melvins followed that July, and the double compilation “Temporal” appeared on Ipecac in 2012. The members reunited for a single show in October 2018 under the name Celestial.

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Album by album

Five studio albums, from “Celestial” in 2000 to “Wavering Radiant” in 2009, all with a guide on this site. The EPs, the remix album of “Oceanic”, the live releases, the splits and “Temporal” stay outside the grid. Tap any title for its guide.

The players

Aaron Turner sang and played guitar, Jeff Caxide played bass and Aaron Harris played drums from the start in 1997 to the end in 2010. Chris Mereschuk, the founding electronics player and second voice, left in 1998, and guitarist Randy Larsen filled in on that year’s summer tour. Michael Gallagher joined on guitar in 1999, and Bryant Clifford Meyer took the place briefly held by Jay Randall, adding guitar, keyboards and electronics; on “Celestial” he also sings on “Gentle Time”. That five-piece made every studio album. After the split, Caxide, Harris and Meyer formed Palms with Chino Moreno, and its self-titled album came out in June 2013.

Where to start

I would start with “Oceanic” (2002), the album Rock-A-Rolla called the yardstick for every later post-metal record. Then go to “Panopticon” (2004), the surveillance concept album with Justin Chancellor as a guest. For the end of the story, “Wavering Radiant” (2009) is the final album, the one Spin’s Joe Gross called the toughest and catchiest Isis record since “Celestial”.

Why they matter

On my scene page Isis sits next to Neurosis at the start of the post-metal story. The band named Neurosis, Godflesh, Swans, the Melvins and Tool among its influences, and Ben Richardson of the San Francisco Bay Guardian linked “Oceanic” directly to a wave of Neurosis-inspired post-metal. Its own influence runs forward too. Cult of Luna cites Isis as an influence and connects its 2004 album “Salvation” to “Oceanic”, and Pelican and Russian Circles are among the other bands that have named it. Turner called the music “thinking man’s metal”. I tell the story of the whole genre on my Experimental & Post-Metal page, and if you want to cross from here into prog proper, I put together a list of prog albums for Isis listeners.

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