ISIS — Panopticon (review)

ISIS — Panopticon album cover Album · 2004 · Atmospheric Sludge Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
topofsm
Waves of crushing riffs wash about on the listener right away. Everything is enveloped in dark heavy riffs. There is an atmosphere of discomfort everywhere. That's how Panopticon kicks off. After the first riff, everything goes from there. Many fans know this as Isis' masterpiece, and that praise comes well warranted.

The previous description could largely be used for the rest of the album. Deep crushing riffs are prominent everywhere. But as a post-metal release it's obviously going to have more than that. There are lucid atmospheres in every track and haunting soft passages, before everything builds up and crushes everything in its path. All together the dynamics form good chemistry, which is what makes Panopticon so good.

Of course, there are quite a few variations in style from song to song. "Backlit" starts off almost laid back and takes a while to develop and build into it's crushing insanity. "Altered Course" while still having that atmospheric sludge aura contains energy and is one of the better instrumentals, bringing Isis on par with their contemporaries Pelican in terms of instrumental work. "Wills Dissolve" is more emotionally dispassionate and starts very soft and tugs at the area of the heart that has lost hope, as the title suggests. All that, and the closer couldn't be better, "Grinning Mouths" is quite driving and the rhythms and the riffs combine into a large driving monster of a song.

The only part I hesitate to call poor in this album are "In Fiction" which maybe stays too long in soft territory and noodles too much in ambience. When you have a post metal album awash in slow tempi and low key riffs, it helps to not stay in the same style too long so as to not bore the listener.

But other than that, Panopticon is a landmark and certainly deserves its title as one of the crown jewels of sludge, doom, post metal, or whatever Isis listeners choose to call them. Its atmospheres never let up, it's heavy when it needs to be, and the builds are splendid and intelligent. Basically, it has all the elements you would want in an Isis album, and more. A worthy purchase, and always good for listening to.
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