Pin a single label, style, adjective on Isis and it slips right off. They seem immune. For more than a decade, the Los Angeles five-piece has maneuvered between cries and whispers, dirt and polish, bruising noise and narcotic subtlety, repeatedly redrawing the borders of the one genre that accommodates them, metal, as they annex more sonic territory beyond it. This means trading metal's usual symphony of downtuned riffs for a broader set of digressions and moods: On new album Wavering Radiant, these self-professed Fennesz and Pink Floyd devotees have turned often-drab contemporary guitar rock into music flush with fresh emotions and ideas -- a triumph that owes to the casual restraint of Joe Barresi's production. Moving away from the analytic approach favored by longtime Isis producer Matt Bayles, collecting the entire band in one place, and writing without a deadline has lent Radiant a sense of completeness and unity that recalls album-rock's golden years.

Read the full review. [8.5 / Best New Music]

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