The harsh hypnotic sounding surrealistic distorted noises that Isolant conjures up on their new EP titled, “Drain,” slowly shreds away at your sanity until you finally submit to the captivating aural punishment. These musicians seem to capture the gloomy essence of fear inducing industrial music mixed with some old school crust punk, while also throwing in some monstrous sounding death doom elements.
Given this band’s unorthodox approach along with the solid production quality, I felt myself constantly engaged while listening to the entire EP. Once the first song begins you lose track of time as the world around slows down and you drift into this immense sounding industrial atmospheric realm. The members of this group have very extensive backgrounds within the world of extreme music with connections to bands like Malleus, The Watcher, Abstracter, Atrament, S.E.K.H. and Suspiral. There is definitely an open minded mentality amongst the members of Isolant and the compositions on this release demonstrate an unconventional artistic mindset which makes for one very unpredictable listening experiencing.
One of the most noticeable aspects about this EP is without question the catchy death doom riffs. The first track, “The End Begins Me,” is a great example of how Isolant is able to blend together these sharp dissonant industrial noises with monolith sized guitar arrangements that hammer out these addictive and abrasive chord progression. All the instruments and all the different electronic sounds you hear create such a vivid atmosphere. Also, the vocals on this album perfectly compliment the tone of the music by adding to the music's abysmal tone. Other tracks such as, “Drown in Ash” and “Inner Tomb,” explore these very simple yet utterly profound industrial sounding landscapes. Imagine the devastating style of a band like Godflesh, but then throw in some primitive crust/post-punk in the vein of Amebix and Killing Joke.
Another point I want to bring up about this release is that Isolant is able to effectively deviate at times from the heavy hypnotic industrial death doom barrage and take a turn down a different musical avenue. For example, I was not expecting a calming piano piece on the song, “Death Pulse,” but in the end the compositions proved to be a great solemn sounding way to finish off the track. The dynamic thought put into each track is definitely one reason why Isolant's music stands out, and also contributes to the EP’s strong haunting synergy.
In the end, Isolant is a group that is willing to defile musical logic and create a world with a plethora of unique sounds, while crafting these unbelievably addictive sounding riffs. I cannot tell you how many times when listening to this EP I would stop and find myself moving my head along to guitar parts. Plus, the vocals on this album are exactly what you want in terms of offering up that inhumanly sinister delivery to accompany the fiendish arrangments. Sentient Ruin will be working with Isolant on the release of the EP which comes out February 24th, so definitely go order a copy if you are into music which goes against the grain and is willing to experiment instead of simply copying what everyone else is doing within the metal community at the moment.
Check out the song "Inner Tomb" below:
Sentient Ruin Bandcamp:
Awesome review Robby.
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