Post-metal geologists THE OCEAN prove well drilled.
PIER2, BREMEN
Post-metal archaeologists return to an era of abundance
NOW THAT COHEED And Cambria have strayed from their Amory Wars space opera,
The Ocean are prog metal’s longest-serving concept album loyalists. Their last odyssey,
2020’s Phanerozoic II, concluded a 13-year-running trilogy; picking up after Precambrian and
Phanerozoic I, it finished narrating the entire history of Earth. Relishing their saga’s completion, Phanerozoic I is getting its own livestream from the intellectuals’ native Germany – with II to follow at the Roadburn Redux online festival.
A monolith built with progressive textures and post-metal climaxes, the 2018 opus deserves some seriously cinematic grandeur, and the evening largely accommodates. As a minimalist synth line explodes into Cambrian II’S groove/ sludge riff, the six-piece are only backlit, often reducing them to silhouettes against flaring spotlights. The frantic flashes continue unencumbered all night and make every breakdown seem like a reality-shaking cataclysm. However, the aura is compromised by a mixing snafu early on. The opening track’s first half is near-inaudible as drums crash through and drown out all else. Mercifully, by the onset of
Ordovicium’s rabid post-hardcore, the soundscape is crystal clear.
Technical struggles or not, The Ocean themselves still shine. The climaxes of Silurian and Permian plumb new depths of savagery, the live arena making them strikingly rawer than their studio incarnations. Yet, stealing the show is frontman Loïc Rossetti. His abrupt shifts from cleans to roars continually wow, even as he slithers playfully among his bandmates. At his best, he’s a match for Katatonia’s Jonas Renkse before growling the house down on the dynamic Devonian.
Performed with flooring visuals and unyielding fire, Phanerozoic I’s material has never felt as muscular as it does tonight. Longtime fans have frequently lamented The Ocean’s underrated status, and the band’s ability to outdo themselves even in the awkwardness of isolation is testament to that unsung greatness.
MATT MILLS