You know, there's been a lot that's been said about this album since it's release 6 years ago. I don't have to review it, but if you need one more reaffirmation as to why you should get this album, I'll give you my testimony.

Prior to Oceanic, Isis was involved in the metalcore movement in the East Coast as those dudes who were like Godflesh/Neurosis. Not a bad comparison by any means, but at the time they were young dudes finding themselves so their influences were a bit more prevalent at the time.

Yet when this album came out... it made things different in metal.

The album centers around a concept where a man finds a woman, but her past drives him to the point of suicide. And somehow, everything from life, deceit, love, and death is eerily captured by a band that isn't reliant on singing by any means. Just the combination of uncertainty, euphoria, and bittersweet despair are flawlessly captured in such a manner that you can feel yourself drowning in the songs, with light glistening to the surface, only to break through the surface and continue on.

I write words like that to describe songs the songs you hear on this album because it captures you. Mainstream music fans may be a bit put off by the abrasive nature of the vocals, but that shows a particular ignorance to what's been going on in metal music for the past 20 years. You end up with an album that has the ethos of progressive metal but at a slower, deeper pace that rivals their influences and Bristol trip hop. And it rules.

I recommend this album to everyone.

I got Isis's 2002 release "Oceanic" along with their 2004 follow up "Panopticon" [...] in January, and I fell in love with both albums, and I also became a fan of Isis instantly. "Oceanic" which I'am reviewing right now, is just an incredible, majestic, heavy yet atmospheric journey full of heavy monumental riffs, sparse vocals, and ambient, majestic melodic passages that will not only envelop and embrace your mind, but carry you away into a vast, unknown world of UNlimited imagination as well. If there was ever a soundtrack to an ocean, then "Oceanic" is definately that album. The more I listen to this album, the more I love it, in fact it's already one of my favorite albums in my collection now. One minute this album can be crushingly heavy and the next minute it can be peaceful, relaxing and melodic. Whenever I'm listening to this album, or any Isis album for that matter, I like to imagine myself going for a swim in the ocean or going for a nice long walk on a tropical beach. Aaron Turner's vocals are just great and they fit just perfectly with the band's sound. His growls and screams are to me very reminescent of Troy Sanders (Mastodon), and he also has a nice clean singing voice as well. The guitar riffs are just massive, crushing, crippling and monumental. These guys know when to churn of heavy riffs, and they also know when to turn it down a notch with calm, relaxing melodic parts as well. The bass just ripples and pulsates throughout the album with soothing and hypnotic perfection. The drumming is just absolutely powerful and infectious throughout.

"The Beginning and the End" is a great opener and amony one of my favorites on this album that features catchy striking guitar riffs and harsh vocals from Aaron and some cleaner instrumental parts as well. My favorite song on here no doubt has to be track three "False Light". It starts out with heavy, hard-driving riffs, vicious howling vocals and powerful drum beats. Then around the 3 minute mark, the song segues into a nice mellow instrumental passage with gentle guitar parts and soothing basslines untile at the 6 minute mark when the heaviness comes back into play with a brutal conclusion you'll never forget. Track four "Carry" is another favorite on here that starts off with a nice, slow, relaxing instrumental part (which includes some clean, docile echoing guitar parts, smooth sailing bass and a nice calm drum beat) until halfway through when Aaron's torturing howls come into play followed by impenetrable walls of heavier guitar riffs. Track six "Maritime" is a nice, relaxing 3 minute instrumental break that is highlighted by peaceful psychadelic guitarwork and smooth basslines, while track seven "Weight" is an absolute hypnotic and suspensful 10 minute epic that is highlighted by distant, crashing drum beats that become increasingly loud and heavy, droning keyboards and haunting but lovely, enchanting female vocals. Track nine "Hym" is a great addicting album closer and another favorite of mine that starts off with a wall of collapsing riffs and some soaring clean vocals from Aaron. Please read on for my song ratings.
Jeremy's song ratings:
1. The Beginning and the End (8:01) - 5/5
2. The Other (7:14) - 5/5
3. False Light (7:42) - 5/5
4. Carry (6:46) - 5/5
5. - (2:05) - 4/5
6. Maritime (3:03) - 5/5
7. Weight (10:46) - 5/5
8. From Sinking (8:24) - 5/5
9. Hym (9:13) - 5/5

Overall, this album is an absolute must-have for fans of creative bands such as Meshuggah, Mastodon, Neurosis, Pelican, Red Sparowes, Tool, or even Pink Floyd for that matter. But I must warn you, that if you're looking for an album that features the standared verses/chrouses, you won't have any luck with this album, but like I said before, if you're an open minded metalhead who's into some great creative rock/metal like myself, then by all means, this album is yours. Enjoy!!

It doesn't make sense to me. I'm not going to read through 50 reviews to see if anyone feels the same about this album as myself, but it comes down to one glaring error. Oceanic starts off great and stays interesting for the first 5 or so songs. Instead of keeping the energy and flow going for the rest of the album, they kill it by going in this barely audible wannabe atmospheric garbage for like 2 songs. Yeah that's good guys. You worked to build this singular mood for an album and then abandoned your listeners by taking that extra bong toke and spacing out instead of finishing strong. This album would be a classic for me if the 2nd half matched the 1st. Instead, I cut off the last couple songs and treat it like an EP or something.

Panopticon MUCH better album,this one has some tracks that are just noise.Quite annoying as Isis makes some incredible music.There are a few good tracks on this,but there is no flow due to the occasional noise track.Panopticon.

For a while, this was my favourite Isis album. Their sound had changed quite a bit from The Red Sea, to Celestial, then to Oceanic, but each album is unique and excellent quality. I think one of the reasons I loved this album so much was powerful tracks like "From Sinking" and "False Light" were incredibly heavy, yet still sort of beautiful in a way. Their sound at this point was excellent, but quite honestly... I haven't really enjoyed any albums made after this one quite as much. I still think they're good albums, I just would much rather listen to Mosquito Control or Celestial over Panopticon any day.