Isis
Temporal

For the person writing to you, the best band of the last 25 years. And here I could already end the review.

What else is there to add?

Americans from Boston, authors of five official albums; labeled as Post-Metal. But it's a definition that seems quite limited for the quintet led by the sacred hands of Aaron Turner.

A rich series of EPs, collaborations, covers that increase an always excellent discography, always well above the competition.

Temporal is a lush double posthumous collection, published in 2012 by Mike Patton's Ipecac Recordings, who couldn't help but notice the group's spatial grandeur.

Not easy listening; not easy for newcomers to approach a rich, full, intense sound. Long, very long tracks as in the unreleased "Grey Divide" where the minutes exceed 16 minutes... A song that best identifies the masterful and inimitable sound of a perfect machine. Fullness and emptiness chasing each other as the minutes pass. A raging river, ready to overflow, to erupt like lava... but suddenly everything calms down, slows, diminishes. The sound wall becomes pure white; soft passages, emotionally intense moments... then another change, unexpected. The sound returns hard, violent, uncontrollable. The instruments scream their pain, guided by a crushing bass. In a moment you're at the end, but as far as I'm concerned, I'd be ready to start listening again. All over again, and again, and again... There's no voice, no furious singing by Aaron: at least this time it's not needed.

I like to compare Isis to the equally immense God Machine: the same innate ability to shape, to "play" with emotions, with continuous musical ups and downs rich in tensions and calmness.

The remaining songs of the compilation are no less: demo versions, covers of Godflesh and Black Sabbath, remixes, and another unreleased track, which gives the collection its title.

I had the blessed fortune to see Isis live in 2007 at the now-defunct "Transilvania" in Milan: I keep vivid memories inside me, hallucinatory memories...

Ad Maiora.