Let's see. 7 tracks long with all the songs (sans the interlude) surpassing the six minute barrier. Sounds like an Isis ablum. The latest effort from the Los Angeles (via Boston) metal gurus is just another in a line of prog inspired "nerd" metal. Sure, you get the growling vocals (which, as always, are completely incoherent) and crunchy metal guitar, but with Isis they also offer a kind of atmosphere to their sound (that doesn't want to send you to your local satanic cult meeting). From the outset (and excellent opening track "Hall of the Dead") the listener is gently brought into the album; that is until Aaron Turner starts howling. But this time around, Turner splits his vocal-time between the metal yell and legitimate singing. Also injected into each track is the keys (and general electronic ambience). Sometimes they are merely an added ingredient to the Isis recipe but at times ("Stone to Wake the Serpent" has a great, gothic organ that is lays in the track nicely) the sound reaches a kind of Pink Floyd-esque sound (as well as prog-ish dweeb sound). New listeners will immediately think of the Tool similarities (their guitarist Adam Jones actually guests on two of the tracks) because of the prog-metal tendencies of weird time structures, lengthy tracks, total disregard of generic song structure, and general mood of the album. But don't lump them into a copycat kind of band because Isis has molded their sound over the past decade and this album is a welcomed collection to their catalogue.
4.1/5.0
Standout tracks: "Hall of the Dead" "Ghost Key" "20 Minutes/ 40 Years"
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