---
title: The Man Who Found Caps Lock
date: 2026-05-24
description: An unapologetic, very loud love letter to ISIS, OMG, and SUMAC.
tags: [music]
image: /assets/img/post-metal.jpg
---

How much noise can one man make?

If you're [Aaron Turner], then turns out the answer is "a lot".

But this isn't just noise for the sake of noise... well, _sometimes_ it is; this
is deliberate and finely crafted noise with a myriad of inspirations behind it.

It's patient, aggressive, and fundamentally passionate at its core. It's noise
that's searching for answers to questions that are unique to each listener.

This noise is music, it's sound scapes, it's hypnotic, it's meditative. It's
whatever _you_ need it to be, when you need it to be it.

So what is it about Aaron Turner's style of music, of which he has many, that
drove me to write this post? I think it comes down to two things:

1. Integrity
1. Consistency

## Integrity

Aaron makes music because he is ultimately a creative individual. He craves
stimulation and through the years that I've been following his work, I have
found him to be someone of high moral fibre and I take that very seriously in a
world where most of our species is anything but human.

So when it comes to music that he writes, contributes to, collaborates on, or
even just recommends or promotes... I take notice. Real integrity doesn't come
around often, so when someone actually commands it, you pay attention.

## Consistency

Aaron Turner helped start the band [ISIS] in 1997, then [Old Man Gloom
(OMG)][old man gloom (omg)] in 1999. Later, after the demise of ISIS, he would
start [SUMAC] in 2014. These bands alone have built an incredibly consistent
body of work across numerous albums and EPs.

But add to that Aaron's collaboration work: Mamiffer (ambient), Pharoah Overlord
(experimental rock), Greymachine (experimental industrial), Lotus Eaters
(experimental electroacoustic), Split Cranium (hardcore punk); and the recent
(as of 2026) news that he is now a full time member of the band [Neurosis]; a
band that was instrumental in Aaron's musical direction, and you can start to
see that this isn't your average run-of-the-mill musician.

ISIS started as a hardcore'esque sludge band but evolved into being the flag
bearers for the entire post-metal genre. OMG is a "super group" (consisting of
members from not only ISIS but Converge and Cave-In) dealing out experimental
sludge with the frenetic energy of hardcore mixed in. While SUMAC (yet another
super group consisting of ISIS, Russian Circles and Baptist members) pushes the
envelope even further into avant-garde metal.

As you can tell, the quality of music he produces is very consistent.

> 💡 Notice, by the way, all the instances of _experimental_.

## Musical Journey

Let's take a run-through some important milestones in Aaron Turner's career
(with respect to ISIS, OMG and SUMAC); and I'm going to be strict on myself and
select a maximum of three albums per band (this is going to be hard).

![Celestial (crop-bottom)](/assets/img/isis-celestial.jpg)

**ISIS** - _Celestial_ (2000)

From the opening riffs of 'Celestial (The Tower)', with its ominous "ommmm" hum
pulsating out and over the top like an alien siren, you're thrown into the deep
murky depths of the sludge metal music that ISIS has crafted.

But this isn't your box-standard cookie-cutter sludge metal. There is depth, and
many layers of sound, to work through and appreciate as they mix the repetitious
and crushing riffs with electronic synths and progressive, rhythmic,
instrumental passages that wind and turn and repeat in upon itself.

Stand-out tracks:

- Celestial (The Tower)
- Collapse and Crush
- Gentle Time

![Oceanic](/assets/img/isis-oceanic.jpg)

**ISIS** - _Oceanic_ (2002)

This a landmark album widely seen as a turning point in the ISIS sound and in
the development of the post-metal genre. long, immersive tracks blend heavy,
slow-building riffs with ambient textures and moments of quiet, atmospheric
reflection, dragging you along like waves in a vast, shifting sea.

The album is also a concept piece, exploring themes of love, loss, and emotional
weight through expansive instrumental passages and sparse vocals. While it
demands patience and attention from listeners, Oceanic rewards those who enjoy
music that’s as much about mood and atmosphere as it is about riff intensity

Stand-out tracks:

- The Beginning and The End
- Weight
- From Sinking

![Panopticon (crop-top)](/assets/img/isis-panopticon.jpg)

**ISIS** - _Panopticon_ (2004)

Oceanic defined post-metal by anchoring crushing post-hardcore sludge with an
aggressive, claustrophobic wall of sound. Aaron Turner’s prominent, guttural
roars drove the album's themes of despair, while the musical transitions between
heavy and quiet sections were jarring and abrupt, hitting the listener with
tidal force.

By contrast, Panopticon embraced a fluid, progressive, and ambient sonic
palette. Vocals took a backseat, becoming sparser, buried in the mix, and
occasionally clean. This left vast instrumental spaces for the music to breathe.
The addition of prominent synthesizers introduced eerie, cinematic textures,
while the songwriting traded Oceanic’s abrupt shifts for slow-burning crescendos
and hypnotic, interlocking guitar melodies reminiscent of progressive
space-rock.

Stand-out tracks:

- So Did We
- Syndic Calls
- Grinning Mouths

![Meditations in B](/assets/img/omg-meditations.jpg)

**OMG** - _Meditations in B_ (1999)

Clocking in at just under 30 minutes, this debut album wildly careens between
sub-two-minute bursts of explosive, sludge-infused noisecore and jarring,
minimalist interludes of dark ambient drone. Aaron Turner's corrosive roars
puncture a chaotic landscape where earth-shattering doom riffs are deliberately
sabotaged by harsh electronic feedback, giving the entire record a raw, frantic,
and industrial energy.

The importance of Meditations in B lies in how it successfully shattered the
boundaries between extreme hardcore, sludge, and avant-garde noise at the turn
of the millennium. By juxtaposing primal heavy music with clinical electronic
experimentation, the album helped lay the foundational groundwork for a more
fragmented, experimental branch of the heavy music underground.

Stand-out tracks:

- Afraid Of
- Flood I/II
- Sonic Wave of Bees
- Rotten Primate

![The Ape of God I/II](/assets/img/omg-apeofgod.jpg)

**OMG** - _The Ape of God I/II_ (2014)

This is a massive, multi-tiered monolith that perfectly balances their
signature, ugly sludge-core with a newfound sense of sprawling, atmospheric
dread. The songs are longer and more calculated than their early, frantic
bursts; cavernous, drop-tuned guitar riffs crawl at a glacial, doom-metal pace,
only to be punctuated by sudden explosions of violent, shifting rhythms. All
while being swallowed by a dense, omnipresent fog of industrial electronics,
modular synth noise, and eerie acoustic passages.

It bridged the gap between pure sonic hostility and cinematic avant-garde
experimentation. Instead of just throwing noise on top of metal, the band fully
integrated electronic manipulation into the songwriting, proving that
atmospheric world-building could coexist with unhinged, primal aggression.

Stand-out tracks:

- Eden's Gate
- Burden
- A Hideous Nightmare Lie Upon The World

![Zozoburn (crop-top)](/assets/img/omg-zozoburn.jpg)

**OMG** - _Zozoburn_ (2019)

Recorded at the 2019 Roadburn Festival, Zozoburn is a towering, dual-natured
live document that captures the sheer kinetic energy of OMG on stage. The
performance strips away the clinical, precise editing of their studio albums,
replacing it with an overdriven, feedback-soaked wall of sound that feels
entirely raw and unhinged.

It serves as a profound, cathartic monument of grief and brotherhood. Following
the tragic passing of Caleb Scofield in 2018. The album captured a band
channeling devastating personal loss into pure, celebratory volume.

Stand-out tracks:

- Shoulder Meat
- Gift
- Soon to Follow

![Love in Shadow](/assets/img/sumac-loveinshadow.jpg)

**SUMAC** - _Love in Shadow_ (2018)

SUMAC's third album represents a radical, deconstructionist shift in the
post-metal and sludge landscape. Comprising just four monolithic tracks spanning
over 66 minutes, the album completely abandons traditional song structures in
favor of long-form, highly volatile compositions. Musically, it marries
earth-shattering, pitch-black fuzz and dysrhythmic math-sludge grooves with a
heavy emphasis on free-form improvisation.

This was a landmark release because it fundamentally redefined how avant-garde
jazz improvisation and extreme metal could interact. Influenced by their direct
collaborations with Japanese noise-rock icon Keiji Haino, SUMAC proved that
extreme music could achieve a profound sense of atmosphere and weight without
relying on premeditated riffs or cinematic, post-rock crescendos.

Stand-out tracks:

- The Task
- Attis' Blade
- Arcing Silver

> 💡 Let's face it, _all four_ tracks that make up this album are amazing.

![May You Be Held](/assets/img/sumac-mayyoubeheld.jpg)

**SUMAC** - _May You Be Held_ (2020)

Their fourth album, pushes their deconstructionist approach even further into
the realm of abstract sonic impressionism. While it retains the band’s signature
earth-shattering weight, the album is noticeably more sparse and patient,
opening with a nearly ten-minute stretch of crackling electronic static, scraped
strings, and minimalist free-jazz percussion. When the colossal, down-tuned
sludge riffs do arrive, they feel less like structured songs and more like
seismic, tectonic shifts. The music breathes in highly unpredictable waves,
constantly collapsing into pockets of quiet, tense dissonance before violently
erupting back into dense, free-form chaotic noise.

This album was highly significant because it shifted SUMAC's focus from the
outward, physical friction of Love in Shadow to an internal, psychological
vulnerability. By leaning so heavily into quiet, formless textures and raw,
improvisations, the band challenged the very definition of what makes music
"heavy." It proved that silence, hesitation, and a total lack of conventional
rhythm could be just as confrontational and emotionally exhausting as a wall of
distorted guitars, cementing SUMAC as pioneers of a fragile, deeply humanistic
style of avant-garde metal.

Stand-out tracks:

- A Prayer for Your Path
- May You Be Held
- The Iron Chair

![The Healer](/assets/img/sumac-thehealer.jpg)

**SUMAC** - _The Healer_ (2024)

The Healer acts as a monumental culmination of their avant-garde era, spanning
76 minutes across just four massive tracks. Musically, it bridges the gap
between the radical, formless improvisation of their previous records and a
return to devastating, tightly locked grooves. While the album still features
extensive, meditation-like stretches of droning feedback, scraped strings, and
abstract free-jazz dynamics, these segments now actively build toward some of
the heaviest, most cohesive riffs the trio has ever recorded.

Aaron Turner’s vocals are pushed to a new level of feral intensity, ranging from
bowel-scraping growls to jarring, high-pitched shrieks, all anchored by a
remarkably warm and clear production that lends every instrument a towering,
three-dimensional presence. This album proved that the band's years of sonic
experimentation weren't just an academic exercise, but a catalyst for building
an entirely new sub-genre—one where primal, jaw-dropping heaviness and absolute
musical freedom coexist as a spiritual, meditative experience.

Stand-out tracks:

- World of Light
- Yellow Dawn
- The Stone's Turn

### Honourable Mentions

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I tried but I just couldn't do it. I just couldn't stick
to three releases for SUMAC. I'd quite honestly be happy to include all their
releases as essential listening.

![Two Beasts](/assets/img/sumac-twobeasts.jpg)

**SUMAC** - _Two Beasts_ (2020)

This was a standalone single/EP, and it serves as a sprawling, 18-minute
distillation of the band's identity at the turn of the decade. Musically, the
track acts as a sonic pendulum, swinging violently between monolithic,
thunderous sludge-metal and free-form improvisational space. It opens with
massive, crushing chords and dense, indecipherable rhythmic shifts, only to
abruptly collapse into long stretches of anxious negative space, droning guitar
feedback, and abstract, jazz-inspired percussion.

This release was important because it functioned as a masterclass in tension and
subversion, specifically designed to test the physical and stylistic boundaries
of the medium. Originally released as part of the Sub Pop Singles Club, the
sheer length of the piece forced it to be literally split across two sides of a
7-inch vinyl, mirroring the thematic duality of its title. By weaponizing
silence and treating quiet, avant-garde disruption as something just as
dangerous and confrontational as their bowel-loosening low end, Two Beasts
solidified SUMAC's ability to compress an entire album's worth of sonic
experimentation into a single, cohesive, and deeply exhausting epic.

![Into This Juvenile Apocalypse](/assets/img/sumac-apocalypse.jpg)

**SUMAC** - _Into This Juvenile Apocalypse_ (2022)

This was SUMAC's _third_ collaborative album with Japanese avant-garde icon
Keiji Haino, It captured the absolute peak of the quartet's free-improvisation
chemistry. Recorded entirely unedited and without a safety net during a single,
one-off performance in Vancouver, the music is a masterclass in unfiltered,
reactive sound creation. The record completely discards pre-written metal
structures, functioning instead as a high-wire balancing act where Haino’s
piercing, erratic guitar work, untamed vocal shrieks, and electronics collide
with SUMAC's massive, shape-shifting rhythmic engine. It breathes with an
unpredictable, push-and-pull dynamic—frequently collapsing into fragile valleys
of eerie, scraping dissonance before coalescing into roaring, spontaneous
eruptions of noise-rock and avant-garde metal fury.

This live album represented the most fluent, intuitive, and cohesive dialogue
between the trio and Haino. While their first two collaborative studio albums
were highly challenging and abrasively experimental, this album demonstrated a
profound evolution in their shared musical language, offering a much more
controlled and mesmeristic sense of tension and release. It proved that
free-form improvisation in the extreme music underground didn’t have to merely
sound like unguided chaos. Instead, the album stood as a definitive document of
shared creative brilliance—proving that a heavy band could walk into a room
completely blind and still construct an incredibly heavy, emotionally resonant,
and cinematic landscape on the fly.

Stand-out tracks:

- A shredded coiled cable...
- Into this juvenile apocalypse...
- That fuzz pedal you planted...

> 💡 The ellipsis needs no explaining. If you know, you know 😉

## Turning the Volume Down (For Now)

So, how much noise can one man make? As it turns out, a lifetime's worth.

From the tidal post-metal architecture of ISIS and the fragmented, industrial
trickery of Old Man Gloom, to the uncompromising avant-garde deconstructions of
SUMAC, Aaron Turner's career is a masterclass in creative evolution. Looking
back at this timeline, it becomes obvious that his trajectory was never about
chasing trends or settling into a comfortable groove. It has always been about
pushing boundaries, testing limits, and following an artistic compass guided by
pure, unadulterated integrity.

Whether it is a beautifully paced, slow-burning crescendo or an 18-minute
improvisational storm split across a 7-inch vinyl, this music demands something
rare from us in the modern world: our undivided attention. But for those willing
to sit in the dark and let the walls of feedback wash over them, the reward is
unmatched. It is music that functions as a mirror, offering catharsis,
meditation, and whatever space you need to find your own answers.

Aaron Turner found Caps Lock a long time ago, and honestly? I hope he never
turns it off.

[aaron turner]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Turner
[isis]: https://isistheband.bandcamp.com/
[neurosis]: https://neurosis.bandcamp.com/
[old man gloom (omg)]: https://oldmangloom.bandcamp.com/
[sumac]: https://sumac.bandcamp.com/