ISIS AT THE HENRY FONDA THEATER (LA Weekly June 19-25, 2009)

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24
Isis at House of Blues

For over 12 years, L.A. (via Boston) based Isis has slowly built up their avante-garde brand of post-rock music over the past dozen years by creating a brand of metal that resists traditional structures like choruses, verses and fast riffs. Often compared to such bands as Neurosis and the Swans, the band has managed to transcend influences and keep their sound growing. On 2006’s In The Absence of Truth, the band expanded to include ambient stuff, and it easily became one of their most commercially successful releases, earning Revolver Magazine’s Golden Gods Best Underground Metal Band award. Their latest is called Wavering Radiant, and features Tool guitarist Adam Jones on the opener “Hall of the Dead.” (He plays keyboards on the title track, as well.) “Ghost Key” fills up with a ’70s-ish progressive instrumentation, with Turner’s angsty but melodic tone offering the perfect foil. (Rei Nishimoto)