Review Summary: Destroy everything so that nothing will be better than you.
It can be said that Gandhi's Gunn had a lot of fans, particularly those in the Schlock Rock/Stoner sphere. With it's brazen instrumentation and infectious attitude, the band were poised to become king of the hill in the Stoner realm. Yet, that was not to be; as, after their second album, the band split up. That didn't stop 3/4's of it's past band members to reincarnate the band in the form of ISAAK. Unlike Gandhi's Gunn, however, ISAAK is not content with just being a "Stoner Metal Band". This band is looking to constantly evolve their sound with each release, and
Sermonize is the culmination of three years of evolution and hard work. These aspects result in one of the finest albums crafted from either outfits.
ISAAK meets many Metal genre's at the door, including Stoner Metal, Sludge, Thrash, and some small elements of Melodic Metalcore. Of course, that doesn't mean Stoner Metal is given second fiddle, with songs like
The Peak diving headfirst into it's muddy guitars and percussion and simplistic vocals by the enormously talented Giacomo Boeddu. Things get interesting when the band opts to try something new. Examples like this include the Sludgy track
Almonds and Glasses which utilizes a mesh of percussion and guitar to create a singular sound that flows over the rest of the track, as Giacomo's vocals are made to sound distant and weak, as if the vocalist is falling into a deep cavern. For Thrash metal fans, there is the track
Showdown which features a more simplistic instrumentation as the drums and guitar are given their own separate fields to play in, allowing both to give the vocals some added heaviness. The top track on the album is the Melodic Metalcore single
Soar. From it's heavy and harmonic vocals to it's sinister rhythm of continuous drums and endlessly looping electric guitars. The song features the band at their most refined and organic and accurately defines the overall tone and sound of the entire album.
Sermonize is ISAAK abandoning the ghost of their former band, evolving into an entirely new beast with a whole different set of rules. From their usual fare in
The Peak to their experimental side in
Lucifer's Road; which uses multiple different Metal styles and shoves them into one track, the band are refusing to settle down to one idea. Instead, they are more content to just fly off the seat of their pants and into the endless abyss that is the Metal genre.
Sermonize is an incredible album, it features an eclectic track list with inventive instrumentation, powerful vocals, and a statement that they will not be defined by their past, they will not be held down by expectation and they absolutely refuse to just "do what their good at".
With
Sermonize, ISAAK have unlocked the gates of depravity, unwilling to quit until they have scouted the entire abyss and mapped every corner. From excellent production and rhythm, to their boundless energy and creativity; ISAAK have propelled themselves to the forefront of the Stoner/Sludge genres. With
Sermonize, ISAAK have made a bold statement:
"Gandhi's Gunn is dead. Meet their mentally unstable cousin ISAAK."
