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The Ocean: Heliocentric

02/06/10 || Khlysty

In the beginning, I was really tempted to write one huge and –most probably- excruciatingly pretentious review about The Ocean’s newest record. And I would have enjoyed it lots. See, what with “Heliocentric” being the first of a two-part album thingy, dealing with religion and the impact that hard science and humanism had on its doctrines (the second album, “Antropocentric” is coming out on October), and with The Ocean being known as a band that never had any qualms about displaying artistic ambitions, it would’ve been easy for me to write something, y’know, “heavy” and “meaningful”.

But, in the end, I said “fuck this shit” and decided to go for something much simpler and to the point. That’s because “Heliocentric” is such a great record, so anything ponderous I might say about it, would ruin its subtle majesty. So, then, in this record, The Ocean seem to follow the doctrines laid out by them during the second disk of their 2007 magnum opus “Precambrian” that is, they seem to move within the parameters of what has been called “post metal”, by people with a serious lack of imagination and a serious yearning for stupid tags.

If you want a comparison, The Ocean here sounds like “In The Absence Of Truth”-era Isis or a more concise and aggressive “The Eye Of Every Storm”-era Neurosis, combining almost post-rock melodicism and subdued vocals with extremely heavy guitar passages and sandpaper, post-hardcore screaming. The songs are generally long and multiparted, and the band uses song dynamics smartly (y’know, the “soft part-loud part-soft part” thingy) to create tension-and-release conditions for the listener. They’re good at this and the songs never sound boring or redundant, but have a certain majesty that’s generally missing from the whole NeurIsis slew of bands that’ve been cropping like mushrooms after rain during the last few years.

But, you know what? The more interesting parts of “Heliocentric” come when the band totally abandons metal and moves towards a more baroque, almost neo-classical approach. “Ptolemy Was Wrong” is the first of these stylistic curveballs, a softly-sung ditty, with a lonely piano accompanying the vocals until its final part, when strings and carefully placed percussion are added, giving the song heft and gravitas. “Catharsis Of A Heretic” is another great example of the stylistic experimentation of the band, a sparsely-arranged song, with emphasis on the drums and vocals and the guitar and horns creating a beautifully subdued background, as is “Epiphany”, another piano-and-strings-combo track with soft singing and ironic quasi-prayer lyrics.

The centerpiece of the record, though, comes at its end with the two-part suite of “The Origin Of Species” and “The Origin Of God”, where The Ocean goes ballistic, creating a bona fide squall of distorted guitar, stuttered rhythmic attacks and vicious screaming, interspersed here and there with more subdued instrumentation and clean vocals, until we come to its final part, where sax, other horns and strings are combined towards a truly magnificent and foreboding end of the recording. I also have to point out the spacious production, that allows each instrument to breathe within the context of each song and enhances the rich arrangements, where electric and acoustic instruments work in tandem to create a truly majestic and atmospheric recording.

So, is “Heliocentric” ambitious? Oh, yes, absolutely. Can it draw flak about being “pretentious treacle”, “overblown”, “not fucking metal enough”? Well, sure. But, you see, that’s the problem with every record that comes out and decides to move outside the beaten track. The bottom line, though, is this: “Heliocentric” is a record that succeeds on every aspect. It’s heavy when it needs to be; it’s heart-rendingly beautiful; it’s detailed to the point of psychosis; it’s grandiose and, at the same time, extremely subdued. It’s a record that needs to be listened repeatedly and carefully, for its details to be revealed and appreciated. To cap things off, it’s a great record and you just need to have it. Do I have to tell you that I cannot wait to find out what “Anthropocentic” has in store? Nah, didn’t think so…

Information
Released: 2010
Label: Metal Blade
Website: www.theoceancollective.com/heliocentric
Band
Loïc Rossetti: vocals
Robin Staps: guitar, electronics
Jonathan Nido: guitar
Louis Jucker: bass, vocals
Luc Hess: drums
Vincent Membrez: piano
Estelle Beiner: violin
Esther Monnat: cello
Céline Portat: viola
Lionel Gafner: contrabass
Jérôme Correa: saxophone
Robert Gutowski: trombone
Hans Albert Staps: trumpet
James Yates: vibraphone

Tracklist
01. Shamayim
02. Firmament
03. The First Commandment of the Luminaries
04. Ptolemy Was Wrong
05. Metaphysics of the Hangman
06. Catharsis of a Heretic
07. Swallowed by the Earth
08. Epiphany
09. The Origin of Species
10. The Origin of God

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