Vocalist Leon deMuerte’s deep growing vocals and Sacha Duable’s harmonic voice blend together well, just as their screaming guitar playing does. Throw in the mix Joe Lester and his deep pulsing bass playing and you have got one great band that I will be on look out for the next time they come around.

Their set was only maybe 30 minutes but I think they grabbed a few new fans in that time. You can check out their MySpace and take a second to give them a listen to. After their set I got to talk to their bass player Joe Lester and he asked if we would be interested in covering their San Antonio show when the open for Mastodon (another reason for us to love this band!).

Next up was Torche from Miami, They didn’t impress me as much as Intronuat (nor did they offer a trip to San Antonio, just kidding). Their music was very fast paced as hands flew across strings and the drummer filled the room with his hard pounding double bass drums going full speed. Torches’ music was actually so loud it was hard to hear front man Steve Brooks vocals.

At the end of their set they unleashed this massive Jam that seemed to go on for forever. With feedback being pulled out of the speakers and symbols crashing it all led to guitarist Juan Montoya’s deep cutting solo. He worked every pedal he had creating some sounds I had never even heard a guitar make. It ended with him taking his guitar and vibrating it and anything and everything including a fan that was stage front.

And now our headliner ISIS, who I had hoped to see last year on their tour with Tool but never, did make it to that show. Before ISIS came out on stage the stage lighting was darken as it usually is but this time once the band got on stage and began the first song it never was brought back up again, Which gave a very intimate feel to their performance but it sucked for photos.

They opened the show with a song called “Wrist of Kings” after that I don’t remember much of what was played. ISIS songs almost seem to blend in to each other and it makes for a great show when you can’t remember what song was just played because you’re just enjoying the music so much. So many of their songs have a very melodic beginning to them that builds up to a hard edged finish that you just can’t seem to wait for.

ISIS’s music is one that is hard to place in just one genre, They have such a huge range of sounds from soft metallic melodic guitar to grinding almost death metal sound , their early works started off as heavy deep doom type metal and has grown in to what the band calls avant-garde, drone-oriented rock. ISIS say they want their music to be look at as more than just music, but more like art.

One of the issues I have with music is that so many are so quick to place a band in a certain genre. When to me yes are certain genres like rock, country, and rap, but what I hate all the sub genres that come from those especially with rock. You have so many genres it’s hard to keep up, metal , nu-metal , post-metal, punk, emo, screamo , indie,  etc…. when to me it’s all just fucking rock. (Sorry for the rant).

As I said earlier the rest of the show was a blur as songs faded in to one another. But that’s just how their music makes you feel. I guess it would be something like being at a pink Floyd show in the 70’s where you are just there and enjoying the music. And that’s exactly what I did I enjoyed ISIS and hope to see them again.  If you didn’t see them on tour this past summer with Tool and weren’t at this show then check out their new album “In The Absence Of Truth” and see for yourself what these guys have to offer…