A very difficult album to review, Southern Isolation is a one-man (correction: one-girl) project of Opal, who strikes me as one of the more interesting singer/songwriters I`ve heard of lately. What she is doing in the Baphomet/Housecore stable exactly is unclear to me, as she would be more at home with a small major label like Sony or Epic. Nevertheless, connections with Phil Anselmo (Pantera) brought her to her new home at Baphomet/Housecore, and it is for them that she wrote and released the selftitled Southern Isolation album.

4 songs. 4 songs that flow by hazily, with a vocal range alternating between bittersweet and tormented backed by acoustic guitar (herself and Phil Anselmo) and some additional percussion/piano. For those expecting metal, this could be a relief or a nightmare: Opal`s songs about "feelings" in general are a lot different from the usual blood and guts, but might sound way to annoying for the rest of the lot.

Think about Tori Amos meets sludgecore and you might get an idea what to expect.

My main complaint is that the songs, due to their sludgy nature, tend to drag on a bit. Even though the four songs run only for little over 20 minutes I found it hard to stay focused throughout the album. An exception was "The Wall Of You", which has some real good guitarplay in it.

If you like experimental music and adore Tori Amos just as much as you like pogoing to Today Is The Day or Eyehategod, you should check this out for sure.