Isis - Wavering Radiant

Rating:

* * * *

Verdict:

Volatile fifth offering from metal band with a difference.

Los Angeles metal band Isis are fine purveyors of the beautiful versus brutal dynamic. And that quality remains intact on fifth album

Wavering Radiant

, only the boundaries between the two are more blurred than ever before. If previous album In the

Absence of Truth

was their most accessible, then this one is the temperamental beast of the bunch - at times it's warm and inviting but it can turn monstrous and inhospitable without warning. There are moments of heavy, bludgeoning riffs not heard since

Celestial (The Tower)

, a relentless and repetitive onslaught from the band's debut album from 2000, and then with towering guitars and tranquil keyboards (of which some are played by Tools Adam Jones), everything is made beautiful again.

Opener Hall of the Dead

begins with eerie, Godflesh-like feedback, pummelling beats, chugging riffs and Aaron Turner's fearsome roar, but then morphs into a dreamy shoegazer haze;

Ghost Key

soars both instrumentally and vocally (with Turner singing as well as roaring) before pained and frenzied flare-ups take over midway through. Eleven-minute long

Hand of the Host

starts out with a lofty and slightly ominous beat, and then descends into a swirling storm of brutality and bullocking bass.

Isis is not your typical metal band, their music is powerful, fearless and makes you feel bulletproof.

Scott Kara