KEY POINTS:
When Isis play at the Kings Arms tomorrow night it will be the start of three months of metal mayhem.
The Los Angeles-based five-piece, whose atmospheric and brutal art-metal will appeal to fans of bands like Tool, Napalm Death and New Zealand's own Jakob (who play support), are
the first of a number of extreme music acts to play in New Zealand in the coming weeks.
The finale will be the double bill of Slayer and Mastodon on April 21.
Isis rely more on intensity and atmosphere than the frenzied attack of those two bands, making them an entirely different beast, yet singer/guitarist Aaron Turner sees them as part of the resurgent metal scene.
"It seems like there is a rebirth of metal in the mainstream but basically I think it still has the same connotations for the general population that it always has - a low-brow, brutish, unsophisticated form of entertainment," he says.
"But I think for a lot of people who follow metal in all of its various permutations, or even just a handful of those, it is a very valid art form and it has been responsible for some of the biggest innovations in music in general. Metal has had a greater impact on popular music than a lot of people are willing to recognise."
His voice has a cold and steely tone. He's not rude, and laughs a little, but it's just that, well, he seems as hard as nails.
Since forming in Boston in 1997 Isis have never cared who liked them.
"We had no grand vision. We just wanted to make music that we wanted to hear ourselves, actually," he says.
He explains that he and the other founding members (including Jeff Caxide and Aaron Harris, who are still in the band) were in different bands and hadn't achieved what they wanted to musically.
"I think we felt, especially at that time, there was a lot of territory to be covered in the realm of music that we had set out into and, perhaps this is a little presumptuous on our part, but we felt we were the right people to explore it."
Their uncompromising attitude and desire to experiment is similar to that of pioneering British industrial-metal band Godflesh, one of Turner's biggest influences.
The first time he heard them he was 14 and a friend had a video of a song from the band's 1990 album, Streetcleaner.
"I remember the combinations of images and music scared the [expletive] out of me and it was like nothing I've ever heard before."
Turner counts Justin Broadrick, the brains behind Godflesh and many other bands and musical aliases like Napalm Death, Techno Animal, Ice and, most recently, Jesu, as one of music's unsung heroes.
"He [Broadrick] has been a pioneer of so many different genres. It's mind-boggling how much this guy has done in a relatively short period of time and it's a shame he hasn't got the recognition he deserves.
"It's a dubious honour to say that he spawned nu metal, but if you think about it as a style it's been a pretty overwhelming movement in music. I think a lot of bands who made that sound popular, like Korn and Fear Factory, would readily admit that they are indebted to what Justin did with Godflesh.
"But beyond that there's other types of good and interesting music he helped to spawn."
Isis, and close musical cousins Cult of Luna, are two such followers.
"None of us would be quite what we are if it hadn't been for Godflesh," says Turner, who's looking forward to Jesu supporting Isis on their United States tour after New Zealand and Australia.
Isis released a string of raw EPs in the late 90s and their first album, Celestial, came out in 2001. On the next album, Oceanic, they refined their sound, moving from tranquillity to pummelling outbursts.
Concept album, Panopticon, in 2005, was just as impressive and late last year the band released In the Absence of Truth, possibly their most accessible record courtesy of a more melodic and measured sound.
"We approached it much the same as we do with every record, which is basically not repeating ourselves," says Turner.
"We're constantly pushing ourselves forward and I think in my eyes the new record is a good summation of everything we've done, as well as a good pointer to wherever we'll go in the future.
"It's really important for us that the songs work well as a whole and there's never really a time when we would chose to do something that's - how do I say this? - showing off.
"But there's not any one element that's pushing the band forward or propelling the composition.
"We have this capability to look at the big picture and realise every little thing we do individually is going to affect our collective output."
* Isis play Kings Arms, Auckland, tomorrow night.
* Albums: Celestial (2001); Oceanic (2002); Panopticon (2004); In the Absence of Truth (2006).
