Isis - Wavering Radiant

Post-metal seems to spend a lot of time trying to undo Fred Durst as a musical proposition and prove once again that metal can be an intellectual entity, rather than just fodder for beer-swilling, headbanging and throwing of the horns. Isis were among the first wave of bands to be branded post-rock, and twelve years later, they've created an album to do everything that the bankable categorisation says it should. Heavy yet delicate, epic without disappearing up its own jam-end, Wavering Radiant serves, in lieu of a 'greatest hits' package, as a neat overview of Isis' back catalogue, incorporating all of the best elements of their sound: with dense, heavy ambient passages, spiralling psychedelia, vocals that veer from throat ripping howls to clean whimpers, meditative jam freak-outs and almost trad-rock breakdowns, it's their most accomplished and complete album to date. For all their monolithic presence, it's doubtful that they could 'undo' Durst, but they certainly do an admirable job of drowning out his 'comeback'.