?Panopticon? is no real leap forward for drone metal axe grinders, Isis, but it is some sort of achievement. The glacial riff-machine that informs this prog/doom ensemble is as constant and propulsive as progress itself, but the quieter passages are equally evocative, usually more so. As for the title, it refers to a prison design that?s also been used as a metaphor for the social prisons we inhabit today. Heavy stuff, right? Sounds like the typical hardcore browbeating to me, and there is some screaming at points to reinforce that notion, but mostly this fury has a method, and the trance-inducing pieces, which thankfully dominate the proceedings, balance things out nicely. With ?Panopticon? Isis incorporates the bleak hypno-doom of Godflesh, the shoegaze wash of My Bloody Valentine and more willowy jazz maneuvers of Slint into a highly kinetic, impeccably produced sound storm, and mostly gets the consistency just right. 8/10 -- Lee Jackson (9 June, 2005)