Isolant - Oblivion 12"

Social Napalm Records’ first release after Savageheads’ phenomenal LP from last year is a total left-turn musically. The label’s description refers to Isolant as “industrial crust,” and in a lot of ways it sounds like some strange fusion of Ministry and Amebix, borrowing the former’s layers of harsh, distorted percussion and the latter’s epically chugging riffs. However, what sticks out to me about Oblivion is how stretched-out and psychedelic it is. Its seven-plus minute songs never seem in a hurry to get anywhere, but they’re constantly morphing and developing, fading from quiet and meditative passages into huge crescendos, making the music seem almost geologic in scale. While those crust elements are present on Oblivion, I think the people who enjoy it most will be those who appreciate its wideness of scope, who find as much pleasure in droning as thrashing.