"The Years, They Passed, And So Did We"

Wednesday night, a bit buzzed, I sit down to relax on the computer before heading back onto the xbox 360 to eventually belligerently play video games with my friends. Searching various forums I contribute to, I see a thread titled "Oh my fucking god.........". Highlighting it, I see it has to do with Isis. A show review, of course! Hardly.

I had to read it a few times, not realizing it was copy/pasted from somewhere, and especially not realizing it was at one point typed up by a member of Isis. The consumption of alcohol did not help my understanding of two large paragraphs and a 'Goodnight' from the band. After it struck me, I gazed into the monitor for 5 minutes without moving. Isis have broken up.

Should I be in disbelief? I knew it was inevitably coming. I just hoped for one more full length. The band has had an amazing career over the 13 years they were together, and although I've only been a huge fan since 2007, I've listened to each release so many times that I was able to fully appreciate such a catalog of music and truly understand how they've influenced and literally changed the lives of music lovers. But never before has a band this quickly influenced me in nearly the same ways.

It's almost hard to describe exactly what Isis do to me when I sit down and listen to their music. How can something indescribable be such a consistent and apparent factor on all five full length albums? Never before have I been so drawn into the sound of a record where I have to stop whatever I am doing and just LISTEN to and feel the music, at least this hasn't happened since a Tool record. In general, Isis are a band that should require attention, but as I sit on the computer, Isis do not just settle for background music.

For every listen, a roller coaster of emotions. I'm engulfed with the feelings of power, sadness, anger, triumph, all at different moments, and at some points, I feel all of these things at once, as if some uninvented emotion has been contrived only through listening to this band. No song since Tool's "Lateralus" has made me nearly break down into tears until almost every time I hear "So Did We". Even at the end of their career, the finale of Wavering Radiant, "Threshold of Transformation" picks me up to the highest of my aggression and then catapults me down into a spiraling hole of despairing beauty, leaving me speechless, with every single listen.

Witnesses Isis live three times was something special, and I feel the need to make it happen one last time, even if I go alone (I wouldn't want to cry in front of my friends at a metal concert). We still have Isis to look forward to as the band plans on releasing a final EP, and more live material in the future.

With that said, I will always love this band with all my heart, and although I was with them for only the end, they will continue to influence and inspire me musically, and throughout every day life for as long as I have my ability to hear. Thank you, Isis.

"Don't look back, Press on."

- 'Hall of the Dead', Isis