Oceana - The Tide (Rise)
So props to Rise Records for picking up Oceana, who hail from my long time
home of St. Petersburg, FL. I was stoked for these kids when they got signed
and knew that they would put out something special. The Tide is one of the
most well crafted, atmospheric, and intense albums that has graced my ears
in a long time. They craft melodic ambient guitar work in with some rather
heavy breakdowns leaving you with more than the average chug chug breakdown
(although there are some of those as well). This isn’t an album where I can
just put my Itunes on shuffle and go start listening to a different band.
Every time I pick this up I have to listen to the whole album. The intro on
this album is the only thing that I could do without, but closing track
“Reach For The Sky” has one epic of a buildup to lead into the final
breakdown. While not a lot of bands know how to write a proper closer (I’m
looking at you Protest the Hero), Oceana should be teaching a class on it.
The vocals aren’t the typical lets scream and then have some pretty parts
thrown in type screamo. When listening to The Tide you can feel the emotion
put into the vocal and lyrics by vocalist Keith Jones. For being such a
young band, Oceana seem to be ages ahead of their peers with The Tide which
I’m sure will grace quite a few album of the year lists at the end of the
year. I know it will be on mine.
Nick Zimmer