| | Isis Oceanic CD Isis Discography of CDs
 (3 Customer Reviews)
Oceanic is the next logical step for Isis after the ugly, grandiose Celestial, the Aaron Turner-led outfit's second full-length looking simultaneously inward and outward, reaching into the nether regions of outer space while still keeping its feet firmly earthbound. Yes, it's an ambitious record, one that isn't immediately consumed and digested -- rather, it consumes and digests the listener with grand and hypnotic waves of sound. Songs blur together as aggressive, post-hardcore guitar riffery trades with lengthy, meditative bouts of electronic exploration, a technique that would result in plodding, pretentious mush in less capable hands. Instead, Oceanic successfully mirrors the dense, unimaginable power of its namesake, combining the minimalist metallic art of Godflesh with the bipolar mood swings and Black Sabbath muscle of West Coast brethren Neurosis. Turner's deathcore growl-shouts serve to puncture the instrumental tension that balloons slowly and painstakingly inflates throughout the album's 63 minutes, with ex-Dirt Merchants singer Maria Christopher occasionally drifting hazily into the arrangements. "Weight," at nearly 11 minutes, doesn't necessarily move as much as it evolves toward its goal, starting with lazy, but purposeful, melodic whale songs before logically concluding with Christopher's repetitive dub vocal and a droning organ suggesting spiritual rebirth. Only Isis could get away with writing hardcore hymns about the inevitability of elemental forces and pull it off with such conviction and attention to detail. The album may initially seem to exist in hazy head space, but clarity comes with further submergence, assuming you're willing to lay back and float, letting the water take you into both conscious and subconscious realms. Oceanic is a masterfully complex symphony of majestic noise and melody, an all-consuming trip into the earth and mind that defies genre and, often, description -- simply put, a triumph. ~ John Serba
Audio Mixer: Matt Bayles.
Recording information: Fort Apache (04/2002-05/2002); New Alliance (04/2002-05/2002).
Photographer: Jason Hellmann.
2nd Full Length. Guests: Maria Christopher/Ayal Naor Of '27'
Isis: Jeff Caxide, Michael Gallagher, Aaron Harris, Aaron Turner, Bryant C. Meyer.
Additional personnel: Ayl Noar, Maria Christopher.
CMJ (10/7/02) - "...OCEANIC is murky, atmospheric and experimental music that's a perfect fit for Mike Patton's unconventional Ipecac label..." Oceanic Music Review Average Rating: (5 out of 5 stars)  The Last Supper of drone metal
Oceanic is the album that got me hooked on both Isis and the genre they're currently flagbearers for, drone. The album is a magnificient balance of atmosphere and intensity, metal and ambient, it has to be heard several times to be fully digested. Songs like "Carry" and "From Sinking" combine growing songscapes with sharp riffing to elevate metal songwriting to a new artform. "Hym" is downright spiritual. This album can't let you down.
Submitted by John (Denver, CO)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Don't just look at this review
Go out and buy this album! If you've had it with all the "tired" sounds of MTV and are ready for something more challenging to the mind, give Isis and "Oceanic" a listen. A great effort by an underrated band.
Submitted by a reviewer (Miami,FL)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No The Perfect Recipe
Isis raises the bar for all similar bands with the release of "Oceanic".
Dark, Melodic guitar lines that tickle the brain with shimmering, spacey licks that suddenly explode into sledgehammer-like riffs that could tear your face off. Fans of their previous works might need a little time to adjust to their "new" sound, but by the third time you hear it, you're hooked.
"Carry" starts off with an eerie, feedbacky guitar, moves to a modest drum beat, then unleashes a barrage of gutter-metal inspired riffs and scratchy, angry lyrics. Whether you're a fan of bludgeoning, detuned guitar riffs or airy, atmospheric swishy arpeggios, "Oceanic" will please you immensley.
Submitted by a reviewer (NOLA, Usa)
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Purchase Oceanic CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Isis SGNL-05 CD (2001)
Oceanic album
 $5.99  
From the intriguing opening sound textures of SGNL>05, one wouldn't imagine that this gentle stream would evolve into a grand work of nu-metal mastery. Here, Isis weaves a beautiful tapestry of lilted piano set deep into the mix of a windswept field recording, but it doesn't take long for the band to turn the world on its ear. SGNL>05, a five-track EP, is the extension of the earlier Celestial record. Lead vocalist and guitarist Aaron Turner's growl may sound cliché in this form, but SGNL>05 quickly proves that it isn't the work of some bored, depressed high school band. Rather, it's an intensely emotional and intelligent piece of theatrical metal music. Tribal influences leak in on "Divine Mother" as the sounds are drawn out in epic proportions. Synthesizers flit about in the background and noise paints the rest of the very stormy picture. The seething guitars of Turner and Mike Gallagher trudge onward in a jarring, direct, and tight fashion. Though tracks like "Beneath Below" and "Constructing Towers" do tend to get a bit repetitive, the album on the whole is quite succinct and impacting. ...
| | VH1 Presents The Corrs Live In Dublin CD (2002)
Oceanic CD music
$6.39  
This audio document of The Corrs' Dublin homecoming concert has pretty much everything fans of Irish pop could wish for, including an appearance from Bono in his earthly incarnation, fresh from an audience with President George W. Bush. It's to the band's credit that the charismatic singer fails to steal the show, despite creditable efforts via an anthemized version of Ryan Adams' beautifully downtempo "When the Stars Go Blue," and a great, leering rendition of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra's "Summer Wine."
Somewhat more mysteriously, Rolling Stone Ron Wood also turns up on what sounds dangerously close to a lounge version of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing," but this minor faux pas is redeemed by the Irish folk medley "Joy of Life/Trout in the Bath" which arguably features more full-on ...
| | Isis Red Sea CD (1999)
Oceanic music CDs
$8.89
Isis' first official release, this 1999 EP shows off a few different facets of the band's hardcore/doom/sludge/metal style, which at this stage was already pretty impressive despite not yet having fully developed to the point it would on subsequent efforts. From the hateful screaming and dense guitar/bass sludge of "Charmicarmicarmicat Shines to Earth" to the pummeling riffs and downshifting grooves of "The Minus Times" and on through the discordant guitars and more stretched-out song structure of "Red Sea," the band's influences (some of which are plainly acknowledged in the liner notes) show through pretty clearly: the Melvins, Earth, Bastard Noise, Eyehategod, Soilent Green, Neurosis, Coalesce, etc. That it is to say, Isis is drawing on a who's who list of underground heavy-music gurus, and if this EP feels a little bit more like them "doing their homework" than a later album like Celestial does, it still outshines the work of many of their ...
| | Isis Panopticon CD (2004)
Oceanic songs
$13.05 
If the glacial dynamics of previous metal and hardcore abstractions Celestial and Oceanic didn't prove that Isis was a heavy band in every sense, then Panopticon should do the trick. The title comes from 18th century philosopher Jeremy Bentham's prison design, which was later referenced by Michael Foucault in the 20th century. The idea is that a centrally placed guard or watcher can keep track of a large number of prisoners, and it excited Bentham and concerned Foucault. Heavy stuff for a metal band, huh? Both are quoted in the liner notes, bookended by aerial industrial photos laying out society's open sprawl. It fits perfectly with the epic music on the disc itself, which is as angular as post-rock forefathers Slint and as cosmically expansive as Neurosis, yet closer to the intensity of hardcore than either of them. Panopticon has the same cagey wall of noise as Oceanic, although the end product here is a little more polished. Aaron Turner ...
| | Jesu CD (2005)
Oceanic album
$11.89
Named after the last track on HYMNS, the final Godflesh album, Jesu is a literal extension of singer/guitarist Justin Broadrick's pioneering industrial-metal work. (In fact, Jesu's line-up often includes latter-day Godflesh drummer Ted Parsons, formerly of Swans and Prong.) While the British act's 2005 self-titled full-length outing can hew closely to the crushingly heavy Godflesh sound (see the ominous, ...
| | Isis In The Absence Of Truth CD (2006)
Oceanic CD music
$11.57 
Forward-thinking art/prog metalheads Isis dig deeper and more densely into their musical palette ...
| | Maria Bethania Memoria Da Pele/Memory Of Skin CD (1990)
Oceanic music CDs
$17.45
| | Joe Maneri Three Men Walking CD (1995)
Oceanic songs
$15.55
With several previous collaborations under their belt, and a familial relationship, the idea of Joe and Mat Maneri working together seems entirely logical. When put together with them, any other musician would seem likely to be the odd man out. However, that is not quite how Three Men Walking works. It is true that the two Maneris probably share more stylistically, with their explorations of microtonalism and world music, but Morris is both an innovative player and a flexible one, and manages to fit into the group just fine. This is not because of rigorous planning and rehearsals -- the recording sessions were the de facto beginnings for this trio as their collaboration lasted only for a tour afterwards -- but largely because of the contributions of Mat Maneri, who often acted as a bridge between Morris and his father. This album is improvisation at its freest, with crisp, articulate guitar work on the part of Morris existing side by side with Joe Maneri's effort to coax out the tiniest spaces in between notes to produce a rich rainbow of sounds. The bridge between the two is often Mat Maneri, who plays an electric violin that emulates both the string instrument qualities of Morris' ...
| | Koma Sinonimo De Ofender CD (2005)
Oceanic album
$9.49
| | Antony Costa Heart Full Of Soul CD (2006) (Import) Bonus Track; Japan
Oceanic CD music
$38.09
| | Scorngrain Cyberwarmachine CD (2009) (Import)
Oceanic music CDs
$20.99
| | Donald Rubinstein Tangled Up In Bob CD (2007)
Oceanic songs
$15.19
| | Seepers Dan Goodtime Woman CD (2008) (Import)
Oceanic album
$26.29
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