Yikes, brother. I was never that much into Mogwai or God Speed You Black Emperor. I do like those Neurosis critters. But I never got into these Isis cats with whom you can make some comparisons with the last bands mentioned. So my ears got devirginized to Isis with this record. I been missing out, Monet. This is pretty big. Real pretty big. Whatever the label/ear tag/pigeon hole descriptive is used to categorize Isis, I don’t know it. Maybe “Post-shoegazer metali-dirge”? But this stuff works well. Seven tracks, the shortest being nearly seven minutes long. Swirling subtleties wind around some off-kilter melodies and rhythms that build and heighten into some fairly crushing riffs. Vocals follow a similar path, morphing from a sung, Alice In Chains-ish level to a low-end, guttural bark. Add in a few droning moments of long-held notes mixed with ethereal atmosphere and even more builld-up and there you have it. This is so not for thems with ADD. More for the people who appreciate and get giddy over watching the slow-burning fuse on a pack of firecrackers. Very impressive. You go buy now.

(Ipecac Records, PO Box 1778 Orinda, CA 94563)