EFFLORESCE

OCEANSIZE, a band from Manchester, England and named after a Jane's Addiction song, plays a unique hybrid of Porcupine Tree inspired prog pop with post-metal and psychedelic rock along for the ride. There are the standard rock instruments such as guitars, bass, keyboards and drums as well as cello, violin and viola. In addition to the other influences there is also some classical as 'Unravel' is an exceprt from Maurice Ravel's 'Gaspard De La Nuit.' This was a surprise to hear as it is generally filed under the psychedelic or post rock categories, but when it rocks out it is clearly a post metal sound which vaguely reminds me of what Soundgarden might sound like if they had merged with Tool. The spacey parts are the true gem of this release as they incorporate all kinds of unique sounds and rhythms to add a layer of ambiance that works quite well.

The result of this marriage of sounds is sometimes very exciting but sometimes they drag on way too long as well. The first track 'I Am The Morning' is a perfect intro to the album setting up a spacey atmospheric feel and as the songs progress they build up to some interesting post rock jams at the beginning of the album but several tracks in it starts to feel like some of these numbers go on way too long and at over 74 minutes this album feels extremely bloated and could really use some of the filler trimmed out. Tracks like 'Amputee' are just plain boring as they sound like any mediocre alternative rock band and kind of ruin the flow of the album by creating unnecessary roadblocks. As for the songwriting OCEANSIZE is clearly going for a Porcupine Tree prog pop sound at times but they just don't seem to have the chops to create those unique ear worms that Steven Wilson and company are so adept at. Not a bad debut but not an outstanding one either.