ANIMUS

When listening to Ocean Architecture's "Animus", I was definitely reminded of bands like Pain Of Salvation and Dream Theater, even if only slivers of them. Overall, it left me thinking it is a pretty good album, something I'll likely listen to again; Animus has some great attributes to making it an above decent progressive metal album. There is fair mix between technical and simple, and I feel the layers were done well. I really enjoyed the piano layer being played around and with the heavier guitar parts. The piano flowed incredibly well with the darker guitar. Additionally, the melodies were enjoyable and worked well with each other.

The transitions were, for the most part, incredible when used. Bringing specific attention to the transition between "Columns Of Time" and "Steel Ecstasy: Columns Collapse" which was really done extremely well. The songs blended together and "Steel Ecstasy: Columns Collapse" took off following the incredibly smooth transition with valour. However, despite this and other great in-song transitions, I feel that the transition between the intro section in "Metatheory" to the next section could have been done a little better, possibly smoother. Despite this, I really enjoyed both sections of the song; "Metatheory" contains a definitely enjoyable melody. The intro used it very well. Additionally, I was hoping for an epic transition between Animus parts I and II, though I was left hearing none.

The drums and the style of drumming on this album fit really well with the album sound, however, I feel the sound levels could have been balanced a bit better, specifically the bass drum which I found could have been boosted, especially in the intense and heavy sections, the bass drum seemed lost under the intensity. With the intense sections on mind, I think of the song "Plato's Cave" which held on to an incredibly well placed blast beat section, followed almost perfectly by a melodic piano section. Additionally, one of the melodies in this song was great and is something I'll probably whistle to myself at work sometimes.

This album did a great job holding on to its strength the entire time, with only a few, very minor weak moments. It did a great job at capturing a dark and desperate atmosphere, especially with the song "Animus Part I", which also contained an interesting blend of sounds which fit well and I loved.

This album really needed a strong finisher song, and it sure did have one. The song "Animus Part II" is the perfect anchor song to this album. Very strong, and seems to do a great summery of the whole album. It had a great sound to it, and did not disappoint.

Ocean Architecture's Animus is an LP that, though was not among the greatest albums I've heard, did a good job convincing me that the Murfreesboro boys can produce a great sound that will keep me looking out for their next release. They are not quite among the level of Pain Of Salvation or Between The Buried And Me, but these gentlemen sure have the potential.

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