When I looked at the album cover I first felt like a beaten dog, which then was slowly and carefully nosing the CD until realizing it was a friend and not a foe.
“Ocean Dynamics” is a continuous concept starting in outer space, represented by the powerful first four tracks of “Thalassa Dominion I-IV”. The journey moves on into the solar system and “Solarwinds” is tied on with fast and fantastic drums which really sound like solar winds. This is musically so amazingly well done, that you could distinguish between a storm and a wind. The wind here even carries the cries of dolphins into the atmosphere very softly. Further, continuing from “Descend”, descending to earth into “Lava” where the fire from the sun liquefies slowly, to then finally ending in the ocean (last three tracks). Here you can listen to more water sounds when you were missing them in the first parts.
One has to listen to the entire album to develop an understanding of the whole idea musically as well as lyrically, because after several minutes of each song completely new parts appear in a sudden and make the album very fluctuating; with plenty of tempi and arrangements, sounds and partly different styles of music, from Funk-Jazz to extreme Black Metal- like drums and percussions, mostly somewhere in between all these genres in the up-and-mid-tempi.
What makes this band unique is the combination of Metal and 70’s electronic music with distinctive synthesizer sounds similar to Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis. It seems like the marriage of Berlin Love Parade with some Rock Festival. The Metal music to some extend reminds me of Luca Turilli and Rhapsody, certainly because of Alex Holzwarth (Drummer of Rhapsody of fire), who seemed to find asylum in this project with his characteristic way of drumming.
The second cherry on the top constitutes the choir of 14 people (seven women and seven men). They represent the operatic bombast throughout the album and also “flow” with DC Cooper (Ex-Royal Hunt) in “Aquatic Majesty”. Therefore, “Ocean Dynamics” is the perfect symbiosis of electronic music, operatic music and Metal. It can be seen as a complete art work with its wonderful orchestration, lyrics and also with its amazing cover art work that was designed totally coherent.
You have to decide whether this is your cup of ocean dynamics or not. I find it to be a fantastical album, where ocean meets universe with a lot of atmosphere in between. All my thumbs, including big toes up!
-Katja Honeywine
VITALS:
Release: 30th of August 2006
Label: Electronicartmetal Records
Avantgenre: Electronic Art Metal Aquatic Space Opera
Duration: 59:17
Origin: Greece
Official site: http://www.dolammad.com/
Review online since: 22.07.2007 / 20:30:29
| TRACKLIST:
01 – Thalassa Dominion I |
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