SELF PRESERVED WHILE THE BODIES FLOAT UP

Oceansize started as an atmospheric rock band that combined majestic post-rock with a keen sense for catchy indie tunes. The preceding album Frames, a good 3 years ago already, announced a new direction, with more metal and a more technical rhythmic approach. Now the long wait is over.

Judging from the first track, the band seems to fully indulge in their love for Soundgarden, it's great heavy doom rock with loud vocals and an instant success for me. I could handle a whole album of this but the remainder of the album is less metallic, and not always equally successful. I blame it on the limited variation in the vocals, they go by without much memorable moments and make the album too monotonous, with lots of songs lacking identity and heart, despite the emo leanings of the voice.

The songwriting sticks to guitar based indie-rock with some limited Prog influences, most notable in the time signatures and some vague Porcupine Tree influences, both in songwriting and sound, but you won't find any song or any arrangement that's even half as good as a PT one.

There hasn't been much PA commotion around the release of this album, and admitted, it doesn't offer anything I get excited about. I can only listen to few songs at once when picking up this album. The problem is that while they are quite good individually, there's a monotony that makes the full length album a dull listen. 3 stars of the less twinkling kind.