We are greeted from the bowels of Richmond’s The Corner Hotel with a cavalcade of mindless static and noise – a man in black sits atop the stage fiddling with knobs and wires, bathed in pinkish light. There’s a certain brutality to Oren Ambarchi’s ‘music’, like bits of splintered wood crunching up against a vile monstrous machine. If you’re into industrial noise it’s great. If not, you’re probably frantically fraying your coaster to create some sort of makeshift ear-plugging device. Judging by the crowd, most people are entranced – by appreciation or horror, it’s hard to tell.

Baroness created quite a stir in the metal world with the release of their debut, 2009’s ‘Blue Record’. The band’s strength as a stage act lies in their use of many different metallic and heavy rock styles. It’s pretty tough to get bored when a band is emulating Ozzy one moment, Metallica the next, then throws in some crunching psychedelia for good measure. Of course, sometimes they teeter on the derivative. On the upside, they are a pretty tight unit – soaring riffs stand out against a solid rhythmic section, and the guitar solos are accomplished. Given some room to develop their sound through experimentation, they could produce some genuinely original content.

Isis have grown a lot since the release of their seminal album, ‘Panopticon’. That record fused hard-hitting metallic thrash with curious undertones of world, atmospheric, and new-age music; creating a stunning mélange of light and shade. Over subsequent albums the band developed their sound to envelop a more experimental ethos, moving in the direction of more progressive sounds, away from pure metallic rage. It’s been three years since Isis have toured our shores, and tonight we were to sample the fruits of their more recent offering, 2009’s ‘Wavering Radiant’.

The crowd of be-blacked people’s ears were soon delighted by the crooning vocals and howling were-beast growls of Adam Turner, which he complemented by alternately cutting/soulful guitars. The band were tight and almost symphonic in their team-work, Michael Gallagher’s guitars, Bryant Clifford Meyer’s keys, and Jeff Caxide’s bass melded effortlessly with Aaron Harris’ elephantine beats, becoming trance-like and evocative. Their music, with its repetitive progression and slowly unfolding structure, builds images in the mind of elemental creation and destruction. You imagine erupting volcanoes, rushing rivers, thunder and lightening. Their music is about the eye in the storm, the avalanche coming down around you succeeded by powdery white stillness. Who needs a projected image when you have music like this? Eat your heart out, Muse.

Isis covered a lot of ground in their set, running from the heady delights of their early work to the more mature experimentation of ‘Wavering Radiant’, which made up the greater proportion of the set. The tracks were blended at their edges so well that sometimes it was hard to discern where one ended and another begun. While with most bands this would be annoyingly dismissive, Isis’ music suits the sparse stage-chat perfectly. Any more would mar the flow.

Threshold of Transformation formed the crescendo of the set, leaving the crowd wanting more. The band served up two encore tracks, the second a beautiful lullaby, Celestial (The Tower).

Listening to Isis is an exhausting thing – the music ebbs and flows and draws you in. Only when it spits you out do you realise how much you were engaged.