Celestial

Celestial
Studio album by Isis
Released	April 3, 2000
Recorded	January—February 2000
Genre	Sludge metal Drone doom Post-metal Minimalist
Length	51:58
Label	Escape Artist (EA07.0) Hydra Head (HH666-59)
Producer	Isis, Matt Bayles
Professional reviews
Allmusic link The Dwarf (Positive) link
Isis chronology
Sawblade EP (1999) Celestial (2000) SGNL>05 (2001)

Celestial is an album by American avant-garde metal band Isis, released in 2000 by Escape Artist and Hydra Head Records. It is their third solo release and first full length. While Celestial is heavily rooted in experimental sludge and minimalist drone, it is a significant work because of its use of abrupt dynamic shifts, an element that Isis would later refine in Oceanic and Panopticon to become a pronounced characteristic of the post-metal aesthetic.

In addition to the regular CD and vinyl LP editions, Celestial is available in a double release, coupled with its sister EP, SGNL>05.

Themes

Celestial and SGNL>05 reintroduce the control tower and female character themes; specifically, a central "mother" tower ("Celestial (The Tower)," "Divine Mother"), which is built ("Constructing Towers"), decayed ("Deconstructing Towers"), and finally crumbles ("Divine Mother (The Tower Crumbles)" which isn't featured until their SGNL>05 EP). As well, the SGNL theme is introduced ("SGNL>01" through "SGNL>05 (Final Transmission)"), and the mosquito (Mosquito Control) is linked through the artwork on both releases.

Track listing

All songs written by Isis.

1. "SGNL>01" – 0:55
2. "Celestial (The Tower)" – 9:42
3. "Glisten" – 6:35
4. "Swarm Reigns (Down)" – 6:02
5. "SGNL>02" – 0:51
6. "Deconstructing Towers" – 7:30
7. "SGNL>03" – 0:35
8. "Collapse and Crush" – 5:55
9. "C.F.T. (New Circuitry and Continued Evolution)" – 5:43
10. "Gentle Time" – 7:02
11. "SGNL>04 (End Transmission)" – 1:07

Personnel

Band members

• Jeff Caxide – bass guitar
• Aaron Harris – drums
• Michael Gallagher – guitar
• Bryant Clifford Meyer – electronics, guitar, vocals on "Gentle Time"
• Aaron Turner – vocals, guitar, art and graphic construction

Other personnel

• Matt Bayles – producing, audio recording and audio mixing
• Jason Hellmann – video stills
• Dave Merullo – mastering and audio editing