Isis

In The Absence Of Truth

[4/5] While it’s worth noting that In The Absence Of Truth is the first Isis album not to feature a cryptic one-word title, fans needn’t worry too much: Cryptic forces, and cryptic concepts (something about Don Quixote and Hassan-i Sabbah, apparently), are still at work on the Los Angeles band’s fourth full-length, even if the music’s taken a shift for the mellower. Showcasing his James Hetfield-esque singing chops throughout Truth’s opener, “Wrists Of Kings,” guitarist/vocalist Aaron Turner waits a good six minutes to break out his trademark growl; and in tracks such as “Dulcinea” and “1000 Shards,” he rides the music’s undulating atmospheres with a warm, almost modal croon. While there’s clearly a guiding structure to these nine songs (pristinely captured once again by producer Matt Bayles), Isis’ playing remains coffin-tight-the overall feel is looser and more expansive than anything else in the band’s catalog. In fact, save for the brief distorted squalls of “Garden Of Light” and the pummeling metallic grooves of “Not In Rivers, But In Drops,” there’s barely anything keeping Isis tethered to the rigid “post-metal” genre they helped inspire: Call it raga-metal or modal rock if you need a qualifier, but it’s certainly a leap further into the ethereal weirdness that defined 2004’s shoegaze- and electronics-inspired Panopticon. (Ipecac) Aaron Burgess



ROCKS LIKE: Tool’s 10,000 Days • Cult Of Luna’s Somewhere Along The Highway • Red Sparrowes’ Every Red Heart Shines Toward The Red Sun