Isis - Wavering Radiant (2009)

Isis
Wavering Radiant (2009)
One thing that Wavering Radiant does immediately is expose the weaknesses of In The Absence of Truth. Not that Absence was a bad album by any stretch, but it was missing that certain whatever-it-is that made you feel as if repeated listens would continue to reveal new and exciting subtleties. There were certainly good songs on there, but since its release in the fall of 2006, I haven't been back to hear them again. Exposing Absence's weaknesses is about the only thing that Wavering Radiant does immediately. You know that it is a stronger album when you hear it, but the magnitude of that strength takes a while to gauge. Even after several weeks of ownership I still wasn't sure where I'd place it in the hierarchy of Isis albums from best to worst.

Admittedly, my first few listens revealed a certain sense of staleness; that feeling that they as a band and I as a listener had been down this road one too many times before. Isis aren't a band known for sea changes between albums, and over time it seems like the differences that do exist from one album to the next is getting harder to spot, and perhaps is almost nonexistent; and that is especially pertinent here. Wavering Radiant presents the same basic formula as their other works as of late: the crystalline guitar tones, predictable clean vocal/growl variations, long post-rock buildups withs sludge crescendos, the token ambient album break. Even if you haven't heard this particular album before but have heard their previous work, chances are Wavering Radiant sounds eerily similar to how you thought it might sound, which is obviously a little disappointing if you were looking for more significant growth.

But there's something about this album that kept bringing me back. Once the initial disappointment faded, I actually discovered some nice touches here once I paid attention to the details. A lot of merits can be given to the production, which is getting more and more layered and complex to a degree that, to be honest, I notice but don't quite understand. Isis have experimented with sound on previous albums, but this one finds them taking those tricks a bit further, and with mostly positive results. You'll notice this immediately in the start of songs like "Ghost Key" and "20 Minutes/40 Years", even if they are eventually buried by Isis' standard song development methods.

In the end, Wavering Radiant is just good enough to satisfy me as a fan, but without some noticeable adjustments in the future this will likely be the last time I'll be able to say that with any level of sincerity.


Score: 6.5/10


"Hand of the Host"


"20 Minutes/40 Years"

The Mars Volta - Octahedron (2009)

The Mars Volta
Octahedron (2009)

Reviewing Mars Volta albums feels slightly pointless. Chances are, you've already got your opinion of the band and it's not really going to change. So eff that; instead of reviewing Octahedron outright, I'll share some personal thoughts inspired by listening to Octahedron -- which will likely be barely distinguishable from a proper review, but that's neither here nor there. For what it's worth, though, I will say that this album is a slightly different beast than their recent work, and that if there is any Mars Volta album that will change peoples' minds about them, or reengage any wayward fans, then this would be it. If you were not keen on the pointlessly long solos, chaotic drumming and guitar playing, and general prog-rock indulgences, you may like what they've come up with for Octahedron. At 8 songs and 50 minutes long, this is easily their most straightforward, digestible album yet. Inversely, if you were a fan of the long solos and chaos, you may not like Octahedron all that much. And that's all I have to say about that.

I've always positioned Mars Volta as the kind of band that I would eventually grow out of. They provided some good music and memories for my younger days, but their brand of rambunctious prog-rock was surely bound to work its way through my system as the process of my maturing musical tastes simultaneously coincided with their inevitable decline in quality (though can you ever tell which is occurring faster, if at all?). It's no wonder, then, that I've approached their last few albums with a bit of hesitation, none more so than Octahedron. I saw it sitting on the New Releases wall at the record store, stacked next to new albums by Green Day, Depeche Mode, Eminem, Mos Def, Marilyn Manson, Dave Matthews Band, Iron Maiden, and other such artists past their prime (arguments on whether some of those artists ever had a prime will be heard at a later date), and wondered about the kind of people who buy those records. How much do they really expect these new albums to live up? It's not because those artists are still making classic material, I decided, but it's more of a comfort issue. The listener knows what they're gonna get. The purchase doesn't require them to take any risks and there's little uncertainty as to how it will sound. Certainly I'd never fall into such a habit, right? Right? Wrong. Because there I was, doing exactly that with the Mars Volta.

So what does it mean if I tell you that Octahedron is a great album? Or if I add that it's their best since De-loused In The Comatorium? I believe that I mean it, but there's that nagging feeling that I may merely be trying to justify my continued support of a band that many of my friends no longer listen to. That I'm not listening to them because they are still good, but because they have only done a good job at reminding me of how I felt when I first heard them when I was younger. On that note: does how much a new album reminds you of a past good album mean that the new one is good too? Is Octahedron successful in my eyes because it sounds the most like their earlier material, or because it is an honestly well-written, well-performed, and well-executed album? The more I think about it, the more I think the answer to those questions don't really matter, and that it's a lose-lose situation to try to provide a completely objective opinion of a band with as polarizing a history as The Mars Volta.

I walked out of the record store with Octahedron feeling like the oldest 25-year old in the world. I was barely anticipating that the album would be worthwhile, yet I bought it anyway, realizing that I was now able to answer my own question: Did I really expect that this new album would live up? No. But maybe it would be good enough. Good enough to remind me of the old days (that really aren't very old at this point). Good enough to satisfy me for a short time. Maybe good enough to get me to buy their next record. And if I was lucky, it would be more than that.

In my eyes, Octahedron is more than that; and even if I do just have smoke in my eyes, I suppose there are worse aspects of aging than stubbornly supporting bands that you felt like you should've stopped caring about a long time ago. Besides thinking that 90% of teenagers are fucking retarded, supporting declining bands is about as "old" as I get...at this point.


Score: 8/10


"With Twilight As My Guide"


"Desperate Graves"