As Metal Director/DJ at WRUV, plus owner of this website, I get sent a metric shit ton of new music every year. I was once able to house my entire MP3 collection on a 160 GB iPod Classic, but as the inevitable digital shift progressed, my virtual library grew exponentially.

I’ve been watching a lot of Archer lately. I just finished Season 1 on NetFlix, as a matter of fact, and the name ISIS has been emblazoned on the screen nearly every episode. Even the capitalized typeset of the acronym International Secret Intelligence Service reminds me of the metal band, who—one year removed from their official announced breakup—followed up on all their respective projects.

On this week’s ‘Mind over Metal’ broadcast, I decided to rock an “egg” theme for this weirdass holiday. The following are vids of the songs that I included in my set, in order of appearance on the show.

Rating: 4.5/5

Where other bands in Kollwitz’ neighborhood might be regarded as one-trick ponies, this Norwegian band has something hidden up their sleeves: tristesse. They have managed to fuse heavy metal with a dark sadness, and that is the glory of Kollwitz. It is not ear-shattering mayhem, but rather beautiful melancholy, which portray depths more common to Neurosis than any of their followers.

In an update from the band’s official news blog: “Simply put, ISIS has done everything we wanted to do, said everything we wanted to say.”

Isis – “Wavering Radiant” released May 05, 2009 on Ipecac A riff remarkably similar to “Celestial (The Tower)” opens Isis’ fifth album, and this is only where the surprises begin. Fully aware of the archetypal role they have played in the heavy music world over the last decade, they embrace the past and still find room to branch out. The group is as fertile as their namesake, now producing potent parallels to Pink Floyd with stronger keyboard presence courtesy of Clifford Meyer (especially 1, 5, & 7). The only exception is on the title track, which features Adam Jones [...read more]