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The Ocean: Precambrian

13/12/07 || The Duff

A concept double-album spanning eighty-five minutes and centering around the many years involved in the Earth’s formation and the development of early planetary life is to describe “Precambrian” in a nutshell, yet The Ocean are no strangers to tackling daunting tasks. Their last two albums were a light & dark contrast affair similar to Opeth’s “Deliverance/Damnation” double-release, and seemed to garner the band a favorable reputation amongst the metal masses. I was only ever introduced to the “Aeolian” album from these Allemanuses, courtesy of The Abyss’ review on the site, and as much as I liked it, I wasn’t sold on the predominant math influence, finding the sections that I really appreciated (the very Isis-type moments) to be too few and far between. I must admit that I should check out “Fluxion” to get the full effect of “Aeolian”, but for now I’m satiated with The Ocean’s “Precambrian”, an album embodying everything I could have hoped for the band to become from what I had previously heard – I was anticipating heavy Isis with tasteful complexity, and I got just that.

One thing that I fucken love about this effort is that one CD is a third of the length of the other, comprising similar material as that experienced on “Aeolian”, only the band doesn’t seem to be getting too carried away with the tech/math madness. There is a great deal of complexity on display on “Hadean/Archaean”, but where “Aeolian” would many a time have me wishing the band would just let the song breathe and break into a grooving riff, the mini-CD has me appreciating the off-kilter rhythms whilst banging my head to the heavily Mastodon inspired material; other influences include grind much akin to Cephalic Carnage and The Red Chord, the math madness of The Dillinger Escape Plan, some Cryptopsy-lite and the polyrhythmic style of Meshuggah.

Encompassing five tracks each ranging between three and five minutes long, things are kept short, sweet and very metal, which is probably why it complements so nicely the second, epic CD “Protorezoic”, which is a Neurosis/Cult of Luna inspired work(some parts remind me of the latest three Isis albums, some Minsk, Ulver, classical pianists of yore, Opeth and Doom metal, as well as other things I can’t put my finger on, but for the most part, Cult of Luna is the main source of inspiration) without the jumbled nature of math barging in and spoiling the heavier than a freight train carrying crates full of leaden testicles and one boat of an atmosphere.

I can’t remember the last time I listened to a track without acknowledging just how epic it was until the final second ran by and I noticed its breaking the ten minute mark – this turned out to be the case with most of the songs, as there’s just so much going on throughout the second disc particularly that I’m rarely left wondering when the next segment is to come in. The reason for this becomes evident when you see the number of band members involved, as The Ocean have involved up to about twenty different people in the “Protorezoic” phase of this project, giving rise to some of the most exceptionally enriched music you’re likely to find (the band mentioned up to about 84 tracks in some places, which if such is the case, must mean they layer the guitars very thickly).

I can’t quite single out the guest vocalists (including Converge, Cave In, Textures and Breach), but for now, I’m having enough of a blast with the music, and so maybe it’ll be something I devote more attention to once I’ve absorbed the many facets of this grand masterpiece. The musicianship is exemplary (special mention going out to the drummer), aided in its delivery by the breathtaking production which makes the heavier walls of sound impact the listener like a torrent of oncoming waves (pretentious… moi?). The cleaner sections are luxurious, and during these moments the guitars are complemented by a vast array of sounds (most of which are electronic) that help mount this CD to heights rarely witnessed, as not many can pull off this kind of thing while avoiding the occasional sonic incompatibility – The Ocean do it gracefully, giving everything a purpose and rendering the CD a living, breathing mass.

My problems with this disc are few; the opening track to “Hadea/Archaean” isn’t as moving as the rest of the album. I also figure the violin (or maybe the cello… one of the classical instruments) is used a little too frequently when something more inventive could have been used – if you’re going to make an album grandiose, there’s no use in repeating yourself when you could apply something completely unexpected (then again, they do bring a glockenspiel into play, and I have no idea what the fuck that is). Instrumental “Statherian” is great, but they should have omitted Kevin Spacey’s speech (yes, him), and the closing instrumental to “Proterozoic” is somewhat misplaced or even entirely unnecessary, even if the music very pleasant – that said, the album does gradually become more soothing the further into it you go, and so maybe it does have a place after all. Nitpicking bullshit, really – if I were to foresee my impression of this disc two weeks down the line, I reckon it would entail that not one note is wasted, but I’m going to go with my preliminary opinion on the album’s so very minor flaws so as to give it room in my own mind to develop.

I urge anyone thinking of listening to this to give the MySpace tracks a go, and purchasing the album from there, as to deprive yourselves of the full artwork, layout and lyrics of the “Precambrian” experience is to reject something great and different altogether. My list of best albums for 2007 has already been written, and I didn’t want to jump the gun in assigning this first place having only given it a couple of days worth of spins, but I think this could very well become album of the year for me given time, and possibly up there in my top ten in about two months or so (sayonara New Kids on the Block’s “Step by Step”), which means a perfect score soon to ensue. As much as I may put this down to the strength and scope of the second CD, “Proterozoic”, I still believe that both albums sat through back to back with some decent headphones deliver the near-perfection as that reflected in the final score – both albums offer something completely unique, and yet can be enjoyed separately or together as one spellbinding piece.

9 biggest surprises of the year out of 10.

Information
Released: 2007
Label: Metal Blade
Website: www.theoceancollective.com
Band
Rob Dukes: vocals
Robin Staps: guitars, percussion
Matt Beels: guitars
Mike Pilat: bass, vocals
Nico Webers: vocals
Meta: vocals
Torge Liessmann: drums
Walid Farruque: guitars
Rene: vocals
Jason Emry: vocals
Eric Kalsbeek: vocals
Nate Newton: vocals
Hannes Huefken: bass
Jonathan Heine: bass
Stefan Heinemeyer: cello
Karina Suslov: viola
Christoph Von Der Nahmer: violin
Katharina Sellheim: piano
John Gurtler: saxophone
Daniel Eichholz: glockenspiel
Jonas Olsson: tambourine
Dwid Hellion: vocals
Caleb Scofield: vocals
Jan Oberg: vocals
Tomas Svensson: additional samples

Tracklist
Hadean/Archadean
01. Hadean – The Long March of the Yes-Men
02. Eoarchean – The Great Void
03. Palaeoarchaen – Man and the Sea
04. Mesoarchaean – Legions of Winged Octopi
05. Neoarchaean – To Burn the Duck of Doubt
Protorezoic
01. Siderian
02. Rhyacian – Untimely Meditations
03. Orosirian – For the Great Blue Cold Now Reigns
04. Statherian
05. Calymmian – Lake Disappointment
06. Ecstasian – De Profundis
07. Stenian – Mount Sorrow
08. Tonian – Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
09. Cryogenian

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