The Ocean in Flux
Despite both bands playing a modern and often staggeringly heavy form of progressive metal, I?ve always compared Germany?s The Ocean and Chicago?s Yakuza in terms of situation more than style. Basically, the deal is both bands offer parts that are ball-rattlingly heavy and few songs that are actually memorable the whole way through. Likewise, both bands have developed cult followings who would say I?ve got my head up my ass for thinking that. Maybe I do.
Regardless, my pre-listening impression (read: prejudice) of Pelagic/Metal Blade?s reissue of The Ocean?s 2004 full-length debut turned out to be pretty accurate. ?Gee, I bet this?ll sound kind of like The Ocean does now, but less fleshed out and more intense.? Sure enough, anyone who got bored or whose mind wandered during the ambient parts of 2007?s conceptually weighty sleeper hit Precambrian might have an easier time connection to the Fluxion material. It?s still some pretty heady post-metal, but not in the Neuro–Isis sense, and hearing the hunger in the songwriting of guitarist/vocalist/songwriter/percussionist/Pelagic label owner/sampler specialist Robin Staps gives the songs a perceptible immediacy that some of their latter material, while much grander in scope, could never replicate.
That intensity, of course, is relative. Even Fluxion opener ?Nazca? (which I?m pretty sure is how they pronounce it in Boston — heyo!) boasts no shortage of intricately arranged orchestral sequences. At the same time, the near-Meshuggah rhythms of ?Dead on the Whole? and the lasting guitar melody of the title track adopt a different and more rudimentary style of ambience, letting the song set the atmosphere, rather than the other way around.
It?s a mystery who exactly other than Staps is in The Ocean on any given day ? rumor has it they?re looking for a singer again, if any Berliners out there think they might be up to it ? but the re-recorded vocals on Fluxion doubtless add an updated feel to the album, because although when traced against what the band are doing now, this sounds different, it in no way feels dated or lacking in terms of performance. For someone not yet indoctrinated into the band, it might be the best place to start.
Tags: Berlin, Metal Blade, Pelagic, post-metal, The Ocean
