KTRU Corner: Isis' Wavering Radiant
In the words of Isis frontman Aaron Turner, heavy metal has "long been unjustly maligned as solely the province of knuckle-dragging meatheads." Although Isis keeps intact the dark lyrical themes, heavy guitar riffs, aggressive percussion lines and high levels of feedback that have made metal a somewhat disreputable genre, the band has managed to craft a distinctive sound that demonstrates metal's extraordinary versatility and artistic strength.Though the band is rooted in the sludge and hardcore styles of bands such as Neurosis, Godflesh and the Melvins, Isis' 2002 release Oceanic has been called a progenitor of the art metal, post-metal and metalgaze subgenres. Turner himself has been resistant to categorizing Isis in interviews, and once dubbed their sound "thinking man's metal."