With my Listening to the Catalog column, I hope to fix some gaps in my musical knowledge. It took me until this week there was a pretty big gap I needed to address, especially considering that my favorite band is Neurosis. That gap is Isis, the beloved post-metal band fronted by Neurosis' newest member, Aaron Turner. 

To be fair, I wasn't completely ignorant of Aaron Turner's work before he joined Neurosis. I had listened to some of his other projects, especially Sumac, and saw that band live at the 2017 Psycho Las Vegas festival. But for some reason, I had largely never gotten around to Isis' music, other than a few random tracks here or there. Let's fix that, shall we? 

As with all bands featured in this column, I listened to all of Isis' studio output in order, starting with the two EPs that preceded their first album. I am not including live albums or splits in the interest of brevity. 

The Mosquito Control EP: While I had heard some of Isis' music, this release was new to me. Given that it's their first release and was reportedly recorded for $600, it's not surprising that this EP sounds much rawer than what I associate with Isis. The first couple tracks especially have a hardcore/punk vibe, but there are definitely hints of the more complex song structures to come later. Nevertheless, it's very cool stuff. "Hive Destruction" jumped out to me as a standout track. 

The Red Sea EP: From the start, this sounds more like what I think of when someone mentions an Aaron Turner project, which isn't surprising given that he handles all the vocals here, rather than sharing the duties with Chris Mereschuk. Turner has stated that he was never fully satisfied with this EP, but I think it is interesting meeting of heaviness and ominous vibes. The back half of the title track particularly soars, and the samples from the obscure David Lynch TV show Hotel Room are appropriately creepy. 

Celestial: Good lord, why have I never listened to this before?!? "Celestial (The Tower) opens with one of the greatest riffs I've ever heard. And "Glisten" then follows it up with some Godflesh-style pummeling that unexpectedly switches gears into something that sounds like indie rock experimentation. Two (proper) tracks in and my mind is already blown. I can't believe I've never listened to this before - this is exactly my type of metal: heavy and crushing, but complex and unpredictable. Now I truly understand the "Neur-Isis" jokes/comparisons. 

SGNL>5: I wasn't necessarily going to include this EP, but after Celestial hit me like a ton of bricks I had no choice but to check this out. The album flows seamlessly into the EP and it's clear that this material was intended to be included on Celestial. While it is all great stuff, Celestial was probably improved by keeping these tracks separate. Celestial remained more focused and urgent, and those who wanted more could pick up this extension as well. I also can't miss the opportunity to shout out the Justin Broadrick reworking of the song "Celestial (Signal Fills the Void)," as the Godflesh influence is all over Isis' debut album.  

Oceanic: There's an immediately noticeable shift between Celestial and Oceanic, with much gentler and more delicate soundscapes in the first couple tracks of Oceanic than anything on the previous album. The addition of more ambient sections, female vocals, and increasingly post-rock song structures make this a more complex album than its predecessor, although I still love that album's hammering intensity. After just one listen, it's obvious why this album is widely considered the band's masterpiece. It's a incredibly layered and complex work, and simultaneously heavy as hell. 

Panopticon: Panopticon continues Isis' movement into post metal territory. There are many quieter moments here, usually in the service of building to heavier sequences. Hearing cleaner vocals from Turner on songs like "In Fiction" is an unexpected surprise. It's a much mellower album that the previous two, and while I'm sure repeated listens would yield some nice discoveries, I'll admit that this one somewhat faded into the background on my first play.

In the Absence of Truth: Looking back at my Last.fm statistics, it seems like In the Absence of Truth is the Isis album I've listened to the most in the past, which I'm sure any fan would call an odd choice, to put it kindly. Honestly, that's probably why I never went back and spent time with the earlier albums. Album opener "Wrists of Kings" sounds more like experimental indie rock than metal, and that vibe continues on later tracks. By no means do I think this is a bad album but this is exactly why I start at the beginning in these columns - I really needed the context of the earlier albums to understand how Isis evolved over the years in order to appreciate this one. 

Wavering Radiant: I get the sense that In the Absence of Truth and Wavering Radiant aren't as widely loved as the first three Isis albums, which I certainly understand. Again, I don't think either of these albums are bad, but they're both complex in a way that isn't immediately accessible. In researching for this piece, I've come across many comparisons to Neurosis in how Isis became less heavy and more textured over time, which seems apt (That Neurosis delivered their heaviest album in decades after Turner joined is another discussion), as well as a lot of comparisons to Tool. At many points on this album, Turner's clean vocals remind me of Stephen Brodsky. Like the previous album, Wavering Radiant probably wouldn't have encouraged me to check out the rest of Isis' records - it's certainly a decent enough record, but it's nothing that speaks to me enough to suck me in. That may be partially because there are a lot of bands out there that sound a lot like this record. I'm sure many of those bands would admit to being influenced by Isis, of course. 

These catalog recaps are a great way for me to fill in the gaps in my listening history, and sometimes they pay off in a big way. Celestial is the biggest blind spot discovery so far - had I listened to it back when it first came out, I certainly would have listened to it hundreds of times since then. And that record would have spurred me to buy the rest of Isis' releases when they first came out. Would the last two records have grown on me in this scenario? Almost certainly. 

As I said above, prior to Aaron Turner joining Neurosis, I was most familiar with him through Sumac, but I'll admit that I've always struggled to fully grasp that band. I may have to consider Sumac for my next Listening to the Catalog entry!