to how Turner has completed his goal, explaining that "Aaron Turner has loosened hardcore from its geographical roots, and in the process created an intimate, yet immeasurable vision all of his own". Turner has complained that "metal in general has long been unjustly maligned as solely the province of knuckle-dragging meatheads [...] That said, there's never been a group of musicians like there is now, who are helping to advance the form." Themes Most of Isis' releases revolve around a theme. While each release has its own unique theme, many of the major releases interconnect. Turner has stated: "we wanted to have albums that weren't just grab-bags of songs but rather a cohesive experience from beginning to end, from the music to the lyrics to the layout of the record." No Isis album contains an explicit diegesis, or story arc, instead focusing on themes rather than stories. As such, releases are defined by some as "pseudo-concept albums". The band see lyrics as important, but at the same time, Turner does not feel it necessary to enunciate every word. Instead, any connections made are mainly conjecture, and the formation of a theme takes into account the album artwork, previous albums, track titles and the use of metaphor just as much as lyricism. Oceanic tells a convoluted tale involving love, incest and suicide by drowning. This relates to the theme of the all-powerful female, present lyrically in every album except Panopticon. Turner does not explicitly acknowledge an "overtly feminine theme"; however, he does state: "I just think it's interesting to include that as part of what we do, simply because metal, especially, is considered to be this very male-oriented, testosterone-driven art form, and I feel like it's important to recognize the other side of our nature. As manly as we might or might not be, we have to acknowledge that there is a feminine part of our persona, and that the world isn't made up of absolutes. To achieve balance, you have to recognize every facet of yourself and everyone else around you." Certain threads do reappear between albums, notes Turner. "There are certain themes which reoccur in my work just because of what I'm interested in and what is aesthetically pleasing for me," he says. "The idea of futuristic utopias and dystopias is probably something that does consciously and subconsciously return time and time again [...] and sometimes I just can't