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The Ocean - Aeolian


*
=Staff's pick

The City In The Sea
Dead Serious & Highly Professional
Austerity
Killing The Flies
Une Saison En Enfer
Necrobabes.com
One With The Ocean
Swoon
Queen Of The Food Chain
Inertia*


Genre Prog./Extreme Metal
Meta/Nico Webers
Vocals
Tracks 10
Robin Staps
Guitar
Runningtime 53 Min.
-
Guitar
Label Metal Blade
Jonathan Heine
Bass
Release 28 Nov. 2005
Torge L./Gerd K.
Drums
Country Germany
Nico Webers
Keyboards
Similar artists Sepultura, Napalm Death, Neurosis

It is hard to describe the sound of a band like The Ocean. Progressive German nu-metal? Hard core orchestral black metal? One thing is sure. These guys are serious about their music. While their last release Fluxion included a whole orchestra, Aeolian presents a metal opera with a row of different guest singers/screamers. The level of ambition is quite high. The band lives for its music. During recording sessions the members even live collectively in the basement of an old aluminium factory that also includes their own studio. Unfortunately it sounds like shit anyway. Well, maybe not if you are into both hard core and progressive metal. But let's say that the sound is very craving of its listener.

I often dismiss bands as not enough original in their sound. This time the case is almost the opposite. The Ocean is just too much. You cannot take in all aspects of the music at once. That can be a good thing sometimes, when you discover new details for every time you listen. But then the whole works together in some way. There are some glimpses of hope, as when a beautiful cello takes over for a minute just to be abrupt overshadowed by a horrible growling voice, in Inertia. But mostly these passages appear more like the musicians play against, rather than with, each other. I am now happy to put The Ocean into the archive.

See also: Song By Song Commentary

Production
Vocals
Compositions

6

5

5

 
Summary



5 chalices of 10 - David

Related links:

www.theoceancollective.com