A cliche is a complex thing, unifying someone’s desire to express himself, transmitting his message and a thought which has been harped on about long ago. The most irritating element of this phenomenon is that these hundred years old truths (or wannabe-truths) can be sold easily and people will sound it thinking they’ve just invented something original.
The Ocean is risking their position by this explosion against the Christian religion and I’m not saying this because I would be a fanatic who can’t stand if someone criticize a religion (by the way I consider myself as someone interested in agnosticism). But the criticism of Christianity can be deliberate too and supported with arguments and this band is in that way yet, fortunately. Their philosophical and also scientific approach shows us the speciality of their thoughts too. I hope they will satisfy their plan of entirety with Anthropocentric, the next album which will be out the second part of this year.
Heliocentric reveals an unknown side of the band; they’ve never been so melodic, so full of direct solutions and catchy rythms. Their complexity which achieved its top with Aeolian and double-album Precambrian has been left in the past, and with the new vocalist Loic Rosetti they found for themselves a new way. To judge this direction isn’t my duty, I have to admit that it isn’t the same band already but I also consider Heliocentric as a great album which has its very own qualities and recognizable particularities. They play a special version of post-metal, uniting the heaviness of sludge metal, the mentality of hardcore bands (which can be observed mostly at their live shows) and a so-called experimental cast of mind which helps them to discover new sounds and new worlds.
The new singer prefers the clear vocals to the furious growls and howls but the album still owns their well-known habit, although their aggressiveness has been altered in many senses. But Heliocentric is full of memorable songs, the unsettling piano solo of First commandment of the Luminaries, the catharsis of The origin of Species and The origin of God demonstrate that they are a pretty unique band.
I could be seeing their live performance this June and I’m sure they won’t lose their individuality, i.e. their served position in the scene. And I’m looking forward to Anthropocentric!
– Holden
VITALS:
Release: 09.04.2010
Label: Metal Blade
Avantgenre: Melodic Post-urban Palaeozoic Metal
Duration: 50:58
Origin: Germany
Official site: http://www.theoceancollective.com/heliocentric/
Review online since: 02.07.2010 / 00:04:15
TRACKLIST:
01 – Shamayim
02 – Firmament
03 – The First Commandment Of The Luminaries
04 – Ptolemy Was Wrong
05 – Metaphysics Of The Hangman
06 – Catharsis Of A Heretic
07 – Swallowed By The Earth
08 – Epiphany
09 – The Origin Of Species
10 – The Origin Of God
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