In the world of extreme music, The Ocean is one of the best acts currently doing the rounds. Essentially a metal band, this 8-man collective brings intelligence, incredibly diverse musicianship and a genuine sense of the epic to a musical genre that has traditionally struggled to achieve mainstream acceptance and credibility. Precambrian is the band’s most accomplished album to date and one of the most ambitious releases the metal genre has seen in recent years.
Conceptually based around the prehistoric Earth, Precambrian’s mammoth 82 minutes is split over 2 discs. The first and shorter of the 2, Hadean/Archaean, spans 22 minutes and is mostly comprised of short and sharp, heavy-hitting numbers that emphasize speed and intensity. The second disc, Proterozoic, is an hour of The Ocean’s more eclectic side, with mostly lengthy, slow-burning numbers with stronger dynamics and far greater variety of instrumentation (e.g. piano, violin, brass etc).
Rise of The Ocean
Although The Ocean formed in 2000, it wasn’t until 2005 with the release of their Fluxion album that the band came to significant attention amongst metal audiences. At this time, bands dealing in slow, lengthy compositions with post-hardcore ambience and crushing climaxes were all the rage thanks mainly to the breakthrough success of Isis and their Oceanic opus from 2002. Even then, this extreme metal sub-genre had been crafted and perfected by Neurosis despite that band’s lack of commercial success.
The greatest strength that The Ocean possesses as a group is cohesion. Despite the band incorporating everything from metal, hardcore, rock and non-metal sounds, they stay in control of this diversity and never let their songs collapse into an incoherent mess. Thus, it is never jarring to hear The Ocean switch from blast beats, growled vocals and heavily-distorted guitars to dreamy, ethereal soundscapes awash with clean guitars, delicate singing and horn sections.
The Epic Scope and Sonic Extremes of Precambrian
The decision to split Precambrian into two parts is well-judged, allowing for more accessibility to The Ocean’s 2 distinct sonic extremes. Hadean/Archaean is an unadulterated blast of speed, brutality and groove, but at a much higher level of sophistication than the average unintelligible metal band. ‘Palaeoarchaean’ for example features an utterly bizarre vocal refrain juxtaposed against a raging hardcore punk beat, while eighties hard rock elements successfully work their way into ‘Neoarchaean’s otherwise slamming metallic racket.
As fun as Hadean/Archaean is, Proterozoic is where the real gems of Precambrian are to be found. ‘Rhyacian’ is a mammoth ten-minute epic early on, followed by the crushing catharsis of ‘Orosirian’. ‘Ectasian’ and ‘Stenian’ feature the album’s best implementation of clean vocals, before The Ocean throw one final curveball with the savage, stuttering discordance of ‘Tonian’. It’s certainly an exhausting ride this album takes the listener on, but it’s also a cohesive and palatable one at all times.
Precambrian Sets a New Benchmark for Epic Extreme Metal
The Ocean’s Precambrian is a shining example of the depth of talent and ambition that exists within the metal genre. It is a vast, eclectic collection of material that successfully navigates between the heaviest of sounds to the most beautiful and delicate. The Ocean’s sound is simply too extensive to be pigeon-holed, but open-minded devotees of metal and/or rock will surely appreciate the quality and sheer creativity on offer here. File under ‘extreme music for adults’.
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