Isis – Temporal

November 6, 2012 • Ipecac Recordings

If I hadn't made it clear before, Isis has long been one of the most important bands to me and the development of my music taste—I remember having my mind blown by "So Did We" back in 2004, eating up the rest of their discography, and eventually managing to see them on tour in 2006 before their breakup in 2010. I hardly need mention that they were a classic band, almost universally-revered by the rock fans who knew of them, and at the very least it was good to see them go while they were still near their peak.

Anyway, enough with the eulogy, and onto the hefty contents of Temporal, a collection of demos, B-sides, and videos, fit to round off their career. Most of the songs have been seen before on various limited releases like the two covers from Sawblade and the Wavering Radiant-era outtakes, along with a couple of B-side remixes. All of the non-demo material I've heard before and it's mostly solid stuff, even the "Streetcleaner" cover many people seem to dislike (I love their really old sound, very industrial and dirty). It's good to see some of the best songs that never made it to an album get a high-profile release, like "Pliable Foe" which quickly became one of my favorite Isis songs when I first heard it and I'm not sure why it was only on the iffy Melvins split and never on Wavering Radiant like it deserved to be.

The demo tracks, though, are just alright. For the most part, aside from the alternate version of "Wills Dissolve" and the fantastic acoustic version of "20 Minutes / 40 Years", essentially you're just hearing the same songs you already know, just a bit sloppier, sounding like live concert recordings. It's a situation similar to all of Isis' live albums: the studio versions are excellent classics, so any live or demo version just seems inferior and kind of pointless. Obviously that doesn't make these demos bad; I simply would rather listen to the albums proper. Perhaps it's all to justify the inclusion of the never-officially-recorded "Grey Divide", which is actually quite a good song in its own right, and it's a shame it never got its proper due.

The DVD is similarly a bit lacking—five music videos and no other footage, sadly (not that you'd need it if you have the excellent Clearing the Eye). I've never been a huge fan of their videos, but it's nice to finally have them all packaged together.

If my review sounds a bit negative, don't despair. I have a tendency to be a bit overly critical with my all-time favorite bands; I mean it's Isis after all. If you're picking this up, you are probably already a fan and you already know the kind of thing you're getting. And you probably already know if you're going to like it.

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