Very sad to note that one of the best rock/metal bands on the planet, ISIS, are calling it a day. From their blog:
ISIS has reached an end. It’s hard to try to say it in any delicate way, and it is a truth that is best spoken plainly. This end isn’t something that occurred over night and it hasn’t been brought about by a single cataclysmic fracture in the band. Simply put, ISIS has done everything we wanted to do, said everything we wanted to say. In the interest of preserving the love we have of this band, for each other, for the music made and for all the people who have continually supported us, it is time to bring it to a close.
While I applaud the reasoning, there’s a selfish part of me that thinks we need all the bands like ISIS we can get, to make up for the mountain of crap, plastic music out there. I personally believe that their most recent release, Wavering Radiant, was the best hard rock/metal album of the past decade (only Tool’s Ænima stands as tall in my collection). While certainly extremely heavy, with repeated listens its beauty and subtleties become apparent, and there are numerous moments throughout the album that I can only describe as transcendent.
Needless to say, I’m gutted to think there’ll be no more. At least they leave an inspiring back-catalogue of music to enjoy – anyone who appreciates good music would do well to take their time in listening to ISIS’s albums. In ‘memoriam’, here’s a taste from Wavering Radiant, the epic “20 Minutes/ 40 years”:
About 6 minutes in is one of those transcendent moments I mentioned. Thanks for the music ISIS.
