So here’s the thing about Isis, the Boston post-metal crew that had the misfortune of sharing a name with some very different kind of extremists. Started in 1997 by Aaron Turner and crew, these guys were already making waves in the underground scene before they dropped what many consider their magnum opus in 2002. The band had this knack for taking the heaviness of doom and sludge and stretching it out into these massive sonic landscapes that could take you on a journey without you even realizing it.
Oceanic is basically what happens when a band figures out exactly what they’re supposed to sound like. Where their earlier stuff was more straightforward heavy, this album flows like actual ocean waves, building up slowly, crashing down hard, then pulling back again. The whole thing feels like you’re underwater, which makes sense given the title and the nautical theme running through it. Tracks like “The Beginning and the End” hit you with this tumbling drum pattern that just draws you in, while “Carry” does this incredible slow-burn buildup that takes its sweet time getting where it’s going but makes every second count. But the real showstopper here is “Weight”, an 11-minute beast that starts with barely anything and slowly transforms into this haunting, crushing experience with buried female vocals that sound like ghost whispers. It’s the kind of track that makes you understand why people throw around words like “masterpiece.”
What makes Oceanic essential isn’t just that it’s heavy, plenty of bands can do that. It’s that Isis managed to create something that’s both crushingly heavy and genuinely beautiful, often at the same time. The production is thick and underwater-sounding but never muddy, and the way they let songs evolve naturally instead of forcing them into verse-chorus structures shows a band that really gets what atmospheric metal should be about. This is the album that helped define what post-metal could be, and honestly, most bands are still trying to catch up to what these guys accomplished here.