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This
German collective had promised, but if I had high expectations
they were more than surpassed with Precambrian, The
Ocean’s ambitious sixty-two minutes two-CD set and fifth overall
release. Hadean/Archaean comes first, and judging by the
first couple of tracks I frankly wasn’t all that impressed. The
first three minutes of “Hadean” sound very much like a less
mechanized but rather propulsive Fear Factory or are sonic
relative to France’s Gojira. The drums are fully organic, but
the guitar sound and playing is dense and simple, two-to-three
notes half droning and half kicking. “Eoarchaean” is a bit more
dynamic but follows the same formula; thick and simple riffs
push waves of sound your way; three minutes into the song The
Ocean gets rather technical though; spastic math metal starts
showing off a different more technical more fun and perhaps a
bit less serious side to the band. The solo in the middle is
well-placed and throws you off. Big vocals, screamed and yelled, all at once to the top of their lungs. The Ocean slowly
covers all bases.
“Palaeoarchaean” is hardcore in sustained speed and energetic
spirit. If you are curious about the strange song titles, well
Precambrain is basically a concept album about the
beginning of earth and its geological evolution. This first disc
is rather solid and takes its time to reveal itself for what it
is. Initially the tracks come off simplistic, and to some degree
they are, yet The Ocean has added quiet nuances only audible to
those with gifted attention. But this first disc closes with the
first great track of the record; “Neoarchaean” opens brilliantly
with blossoming and nascent guitars. If this is about the
evolution of a planet this is exactly the part where the rivers
start flowing and the animals get playful and shit. It gets
heavy, but it also breaks and gets disjointed by nanoseconds and
displays a technical level previously unheard in this Teutonic
collective.
Proterorzoic,
the second disc, is more expansive and adventurous. “Siderian”
is, to tag it something, rather new age. A gorgeous instrumental
of smooth jazz saxophone, deep percussion and glowing clear
guitars. “Rhyacian” follows the same path but kicks off the
rock. If we have to compare The Ocean to someone it would be to
Neurosis, albeit these German’s are much more into light and
evolution and cleaner production. Post-rockisms and prog
rockisms abound and the band sparkles the music with beautiful
strokes of light and pixie dust; the song sores, gets heavy
without metal guitars; adds piano and cello, clean vocals and
eventually walks down our favorite path; that of bashing and
destructive heaviness. The result is utterly brilliant, a jaw
dropping eleven minute orchestrated mammoth that makes us forget
about Precambrian’s more ordinary material. The song is
indeed so good one even wonders why The Ocean bothers with a
couple of the less ambitious songs included here. If they are
trying to find the balance they did, but the scale tips to the
side of “Rhyacian” for sure. Also to note, is the inclusion of
vocalists of the range of Sean Ingram (Coalesce), Nate Newton
(Converge), Thomas Hallbom (Breach) amongst others, a fact that
goes to show how this band may be appreciated amongst certain
extreme music circles.
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