Title: Oceanic Artist: Isis Label: Ipecac Recordings Release Date: 9/17/02 Rating: 5 Skulls
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Reviewed by Kefka X (2/24/06):
Why it's taken me so long to get around to reviewing this is anybody's guess. I purchased this album within a week's time of its release in 2002. In two weeks, I owned multiple copies of the release, including a double-lp imprinted on seafoam-colored vinyl. It easily became my number one album for 2002, and eventually my pick for the best album released in the past five years (number two for me was Isis' follow-up, Panopticon, which was released in late 2004). I'm not putting this band on a pedastal because I love them so much, however; it's because they're excellent songwriters, and excellent concept-creators. Seldom do bands come along that release such bold, creative music that truly speaks to the soul the way Isis does.

If Isis has taught us anything within their past three albums, it's that an album can be more than an album. In fact, this review will ultimately reference the band's album more than the band itself, as it has become an entity all its own. Oceanic, the middle child of the band's three glorious full-lengths (Celestial being the first and Panopticon being the third) is the quintessence of such an idea. Much like being caught in an undertow and drowned into the abyss before resurfacing, Oceanic captures the listener in a thematic journey that reaches over an hour of epic proportions. Oceanic is a tsunami of sound; an orchestra of guitars, vocals, and drums that gradually melt into one another and become an oxymoronic, droning staccato that carries the listener through a plethora of emotions. Like a rolling wave, the music is almost always on a crescendo, starting on a simple note that is continuously built on before crashing into forte. The album's end takes each sub-theme previously built upon and triumphantly explodes into a C chord that echoes into infinity.

The majesty of Oceanic fails to capture the right vocal expression to best describe itself. All I can do is reiterate how truly bold of an experience this album is. Metalhead, prog-nut, art-school kid, classical-genius, throw away all classifications; this is a recording that everyone must hear, at least once. You'll never see things the same. Oceanic is the clinic of the everlasting power of music.

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