I sort of felt ambiguous about it at first, in that I half-expected Isis to do a glorious return to the Panopticon-and-before days of yore when their music was heavy enough to liquify my kidneys. After the first listen, and after I poked around a bit and found my kidneys disturbingly un-liquified...well, I was disappointed to say the least. But after having been listening to it repeatedly going on a couple weeks now, I have to say their new albums is a step in a very nice direction. It's melodically interesting (much more so than ITAOT), and the liberal use of keyboard in layering is nothing short of BITCHING.
So, yeah...if I were to stack up Isis' albums based on quality, I'd put the new 'un below Panopticon and Oceanic, but above In the Absence of Truth.
And Celestial can go, uh...somewhere...in...there...I guess...yeah.