Oceano - Living Chaos (Sumerian Records) [GC]
When you think of big names in the deathcore scene there are only really a few that could claim to be household names, I won’t start naming other bands in a review I am doing as that’s not the point because I am here to focus on one in particular and they are one of those few that everybody should know it is of course the mighty Oceano, over the course of their recorded output they have never failed to impress with the heaviness they manage to produce and it seems like they have been away forever but now they are back with their new album Living Chaos.It begins with the uncomfortably slow and menacing sounds of Wasted Life the intro lulls you in and when Adam Warren unleashes his vocals you know there is going to be no messing about, he sounds like a man possessed as always and even with the music at a slow almost crawling pace the way Scott Smith throws riffs around is a joke and as always, the drumming is thunderously wonderful! The lead single Maas Produced has been streamed close to 2 million times so far and with very good reason it’s a furious and unrelenting barrage of brutal guitars and drums with Warren once again showing top form and cementing his place in the annals of deathcore vocal history, his vocal dexterity is something to behold and adds another weapon to the overall attack of Oceano.
Darkness Rising has an ethereal intro that of course is nothing like the rest of the song which is chock full of huge beatdown, chugging riffs yet they do manage to insert some softness with some nicely added atmospherics in places but this never lasts too long and its back to savage business as usual but it’s worth noting that the way the tempos shift on this song is also wonderfully done. Into The Flames dials up the pace a few notches and has an unmistakable nu-metal influence running throughout the song but it doesn’t hinder the sound and rather than sound like its throwing back and staying in the past, its striving to update the sound and push it forward which it does with style.
With Wounds Never Heal we are back to the more familiar dark, mid-paced crunching that mixes some jagged edged stabbing guitar work with the usual huge walls of staccato guitar attack and to really throw you off it has a little electronic dancey beat underneath everything that keeps popping up out of nowhere for another added surprise as I would not expect it to work in this setting but it really does! Then just out of nowhere everything just stops, and Interlude is exactly what it says it is! It’s a bit of a disappointing addition as the album was absolutely running riot and this nearly 3-minute stalling of the pace is a bit of a disappointment on an album that only has 9 tracks?!
Anyway, The Price Of Pain wastes no time in making you forget your dissatisfaction and absolutely smashes you back into gear and is probably the heaviest track so far, there is simply no let up or relaxation from the onslaught and the more that comes the more you want it’s just an exhilarating rush from start to finish, utter brutal brilliance! Living Chaos goes slightly under the radar for me and believe me it’s not like it’s a bad song in any way but its just compared to everything else so far it just doesn’t feel like they are giving everything they could.
I mean most bands would kill for this type of song and as the standard has been so high you can get past a slight dip in form, but Broken Curse is nothing of the sort its an astonishing way to finish the album full of emotive guitar work that has proggy echoey sections mixed with the unnecessary heaviness that is now the norm and for one last time Adam Warren absolutely throws everything he has at you and bares his soul in a way that you wouldn’t normally get on a deathcore record it has beauty and darkness in equal measure and is a spectacular way to finish.
Another album and another absolute triumph for Oceano, this fits in perfectly with their back catalogue and adds another spectacular chapter, these guys have been there since deathcore was just starting and are showing that they intend to be around for the future to show all the newer bands exactly how it’s done. I understand that there were a couple of moans from me but overall Living Chaos is a triumph of an album and even with a couple of slight misses the standard of the rest was just so good that this should be heralded as a triumph for many years to come, if you like deathcore, listen to it, if you don’t, still listen to it, whatever the hell you are into JUST FUCKING LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM!!! If you haven’t noticed I like this album A LOT. 10/10
Deliver The Galaxy - Burn Your Gods (Massacre Records) [Mark Young]
The 3rd full-length album from Deliver The Galaxy brings forth more SF-tinged metal that doesn’t forget to bring the required riffs amongst their melodic leanings. Noted online as melodic death metal, I think that having tags applied to a band could negatively affect opinion before listening to it and to be honest it did with me. My experience with it as a genre is very much hit and miss, but you always hope to be proved wrong.
Given their SF leanings, it is to be expected that Ancient Alien would be instrumental, acting as our introduction and because of the Sci-Fi approach, I didn’t mind it but as we are now entering the last days of August, can someone please ban instrumental opening tracks? Bury Your Gods follows up with a solid, stomping riff that has all the right ingredients – heavy when it needs it, double bass that fires like an UZI and impressive extreme vocals from Matthias Mente.
Another album and another absolute triumph for Oceano, this fits in perfectly with their back catalogue and adds another spectacular chapter, these guys have been there since deathcore was just starting and are showing that they intend to be around for the future to show all the newer bands exactly how it’s done. I understand that there were a couple of moans from me but overall Living Chaos is a triumph of an album and even with a couple of slight misses the standard of the rest was just so good that this should be heralded as a triumph for many years to come, if you like deathcore, listen to it, if you don’t, still listen to it, whatever the hell you are into JUST FUCKING LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM!!! If you haven’t noticed I like this album A LOT. 10/10
Forlorn Hope - Valour - Part I (Self Release) [Matt Bladen]
Sweden may have Sabaton, but we have Forlorn Hope. While the Swedes have taken songs about war to new heights and have found themselves doubling down on The Great War themes with the last few albums. They'll be the faces of this sort of thing for years to come but Forlorn Hope for me is better, essentially the work of one man, it's meticulously researched, historically accurate and musically a bit more British.
The PR screams Maiden, Priest, Dio etc al but there's a major similarity to Saracen, the vocals, the drama, the storytelling and the heroic sound all reminds me of the often overlooked member of the NWOBHM fraternity. Valour Part I is an EP that is the debut chapter of Forlorn Hope's second album, it's going to be spilt into two half and released separately. Why I'm not sure but there is a linking concept to the record which is that it conceptually about recipients of the Victoria Cross. So it's about heroes, going above and beyond in the field of battle, their gallantry and bravery leading to them receiving the highest Military Honour.
Why I like Sabaton and why I like Forlorn Valour too is that the music is very up my alley but mainly as I'm a historian (I have a degree in classics with a focus on military history). So part of the enjoyment with me is to find out the stories behind the songs. Stories wrapped up in better production values than on their debut album Over The Hills, so it's more cinematic in the song writing.
The stories featured are this of Luke O'Connor the first ever recipient of the VC, James Brindley-Nicholson the only Battle Of Britain Pilot who received a VC. William 'Billy' McFadzean who has become a Loyalist hero in Ulster for his selfless actions during The Somme or Nevill Coghill and Teignmouth Melville whose medals are on display at Regimental Museum of The Royal Welsh in Powys, for their attempt to recover colours during the Zulu war.
Now whatever you think of these conflicts, this is all history and only by learning about it can we change our own present and futures so if bands such as Forlorn Hope and Sabaton inspire a new generation to seek out this information and turn them on to anthemic heavy metal then that can only be a positive. With Part II in the offing, Forlorn Hope have improved on every aspect of their sound with Valour Part I. 8/10
Deliver The Galaxy - Burn Your Gods (Massacre Records) [Mark Young]
The 3rd full-length album from Deliver The Galaxy brings forth more SF-tinged metal that doesn’t forget to bring the required riffs amongst their melodic leanings. Noted online as melodic death metal, I think that having tags applied to a band could negatively affect opinion before listening to it and to be honest it did with me. My experience with it as a genre is very much hit and miss, but you always hope to be proved wrong.
Given their SF leanings, it is to be expected that Ancient Alien would be instrumental, acting as our introduction and because of the Sci-Fi approach, I didn’t mind it but as we are now entering the last days of August, can someone please ban instrumental opening tracks? Bury Your Gods follows up with a solid, stomping riff that has all the right ingredients – heavy when it needs it, double bass that fires like an UZI and impressive extreme vocals from Matthias Mente.
There is a Middle Eastern flavour to it with an expansive sound and tone that grabs you from the off. If the rest of the album sounds like this, then we are in for a treat. Insetopia is up next, and it shares / borrows inspiration from an 80’s pop classic, which is fine by me!! The main song build keeps that front-foot approach in place, with some top-level riffing and those maniac double bass again. It’s a fabulous start and Unsterblich keeps this rich vein flowing with the kind of melodic death that I can get behind, especially with the vocal lines that are just spat like bullets.
There is a restrained break to catch a breath and then the furious closeout. Get Down is a short blast with some technical riffery in there with some fiendish drumming before Dead Planet comes in. The trouble is that after the visceral blast of Get Down, it feels a little tired and possibly redundant. However, they pull the Live.Die.Repeat out of the drawer and it is a stormer. Giving full range to the extreme vocals, it also takes us on a journey through different tempos and arrangement but they don’t let that energy flag. It is a stand-out track here, and unfortunately also ushers in a two song drop in momentum.
Shadows has a slower arrangement until the expected (and it is expected) take-off occurs to shake it up a little. This doesn’t last and it returns to the slower overall pace which again was telegraphed. It’s not a bad song, just one that follows a well-worn path and like Dead Planet could have been left off the album. Path Of Existence it stays in that similar tempo area as Shadows but with that darker edge. There is a great lead break that comes in and it fits in so well. It’s not flashy for the sake of it, simply comes in and does its job before they pull the same trick with upping the pace for a brief burst before closing it out. I think having this once is expected, having it happen back-to-back really sucks the energy out of what they have built so far, especially after Live.Die.Repeat.
Deathlight however understands that something speedy is required, and it delivers on this. The drop-in of clean vocals is unnecessary, especially with the abilities on display for extreme singing by Matthias but apart from that this is a much-needed kick in the pants, required to get me back onboard and they keep that going with Serpent’s Lament is massive, with some chef’s kiss extreme moments as it as it navigates its way between those different genres It hopes to sit in. Straddling between straight-up, intense death metal and the melodic side. Serpent’s Lament shows off DTG's ability to pull the two genres together without resorting to predictable arrangements. Along with Deathlight, it ensures you are now paying attention to the final act. It is unfortunate that with In Retrospect they take the foot off the gas and go for a lighter touch which manages to flatten the momentum built.
PE3 also does nothing to raise the temperature, a piano-led piece that closes out the album, but it doesn’t add anything here. Overall, there are some blinding tracks on here whose impact is reduced by a couple of duff ones. For me, the running order is not right, placing two similar builds together arrested a lot of the energy. Also, the ending songs needed to be just the best, and held up against the opening tracks they were nowhere near. Ultimately, the high’s do outweigh the low points and for that I’ll go with a 7/10
Shadows has a slower arrangement until the expected (and it is expected) take-off occurs to shake it up a little. This doesn’t last and it returns to the slower overall pace which again was telegraphed. It’s not a bad song, just one that follows a well-worn path and like Dead Planet could have been left off the album. Path Of Existence it stays in that similar tempo area as Shadows but with that darker edge. There is a great lead break that comes in and it fits in so well. It’s not flashy for the sake of it, simply comes in and does its job before they pull the same trick with upping the pace for a brief burst before closing it out. I think having this once is expected, having it happen back-to-back really sucks the energy out of what they have built so far, especially after Live.Die.Repeat.
Deathlight however understands that something speedy is required, and it delivers on this. The drop-in of clean vocals is unnecessary, especially with the abilities on display for extreme singing by Matthias but apart from that this is a much-needed kick in the pants, required to get me back onboard and they keep that going with Serpent’s Lament is massive, with some chef’s kiss extreme moments as it as it navigates its way between those different genres It hopes to sit in. Straddling between straight-up, intense death metal and the melodic side. Serpent’s Lament shows off DTG's ability to pull the two genres together without resorting to predictable arrangements. Along with Deathlight, it ensures you are now paying attention to the final act. It is unfortunate that with In Retrospect they take the foot off the gas and go for a lighter touch which manages to flatten the momentum built.
PE3 also does nothing to raise the temperature, a piano-led piece that closes out the album, but it doesn’t add anything here. Overall, there are some blinding tracks on here whose impact is reduced by a couple of duff ones. For me, the running order is not right, placing two similar builds together arrested a lot of the energy. Also, the ending songs needed to be just the best, and held up against the opening tracks they were nowhere near. Ultimately, the high’s do outweigh the low points and for that I’ll go with a 7/10
Mojo Thunder - The Infinite Hope (Agelaius Music Group) [Rich Piva]
I think the headline here is that I did not hate the new Mojo Thunder album. The record, titled Infinite Hope, had a couple things working against it for me. First, I did not like the few of singles I had heard. Second, the artwork on the album cover is God awful. Third, leading with Kings Of Leon, outside of their first EP, as your main comparison, isn’t going to get this reviewer all worked up except to turn whatever it is off. But overall, the second album from these boys from Kentucky did not offend me in any way.
I think the headline here is that I did not hate the new Mojo Thunder album. The record, titled Infinite Hope, had a couple things working against it for me. First, I did not like the few of singles I had heard. Second, the artwork on the album cover is God awful. Third, leading with Kings Of Leon, outside of their first EP, as your main comparison, isn’t going to get this reviewer all worked up except to turn whatever it is off. But overall, the second album from these boys from Kentucky did not offend me in any way.
That is not to say that I loved or will even go back to this record at any time, but the songs are fine, some are catchy and soulful, and they have a nice Southern Rock meets Classic Rock in a test tube and this is what is created kind of vibe. Something is missing though. It is too clean, too polished, and lacks any kind of urgency that I like in my rock. It is a very safe album number two, and safe is never the best bet in rock.
Songs like Let It Fall sound too much like KOL and Holy Ghost is them trying a bit too hard, but other tracks like the opener, The Sun Still Rises, Step By Step, and Grace are really good songs that people who are into the band and other bands of this ilk will dig. To me, the Formula, with a capital F, is missing an ingredient and with this creates a big hole where the awesome should be for a band with this level of skill and influences they are leveraging.
But like I said, I didn’t hate this. Mojo Thunder can play, they can write, but I think they need to step away from trying to fit in and/or sell a lot of downloads to get to the heart of what the band’s sound truly is. Only then will we hear the full potential of the Mojo Thunder. The Infinite Hope is not that true potential, though some small bits of it does shine through. Let’s hope they find it on album three. 5/10
But like I said, I didn’t hate this. Mojo Thunder can play, they can write, but I think they need to step away from trying to fit in and/or sell a lot of downloads to get to the heart of what the band’s sound truly is. Only then will we hear the full potential of the Mojo Thunder. The Infinite Hope is not that true potential, though some small bits of it does shine through. Let’s hope they find it on album three. 5/10
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