IN THE ABSENCE OF TRUTH

ITAOT is another competent Isis album. It has great songwriting and a very open sound, emphasising their post rock element above their metal and hardcore roots. But they made a crucial mistake by giving up most of their gruff shouting in favour of very inadequate clean vocals.

The two opening tracks are very captivating songs with a good groove and very imaginative guitar work. But the vocals are very monotonous and miss expressive value. It makes the songs flat and un-dynamic. The gruff shouting at the end of Wrists of Kings works a lot better. Dulcinea is one of my favourites here, even if the vocal melody - if I may call it so - is hardly distinguishable from that of the opening track. The furious noisy outbursts in the middle and at the end of the track make up for it.

From then on the album excels in being good but unremarkable. All songs in the second half of the album, except maybe for the slightly more electronic Firdous E Bareen and the strong instrumental closer, will please fans but will hardly fire anybody else's interest.

Another fine album from Isis that fails to surprise or engage me enough to be outstanding. Had they added a guest vocalist to handle the more melodic parts it could easily have been a 4 star album. Instead the album ended up lacking the emotive power to make it come alive.