Dual Review: The Ocean - Heliocentric and Anthropocentric

Genre: Sludge Metal, Post-Metal
Name: The Ocean
Album: Heliocentric & Anthropocentric, 2010
Look what's evolved from the primordial Sludge...

UPDATE: now includes instrumental versions

I remember the day rather clearly. I was striding through the now-closed record store, tall, educated, aloof, and weighed down by my younger brother was far more interested in Beiber and Akon than Slayer or Ahab. He was tired, bored, and irritated, so I had to choose my CDs more hurriedly than usual. In a fit of annoyance, he handed me one and said "Get this one. The cover spins." That was all I needed - both I, and, shortly enough, the CD were sold. That CD was Heliocentric, and it was my first encounter with The Ocean Collective, and I have never looked back.

Heliocentric is the first of 2 albums designed to "critique" Christianity, and is focused primarily on the history of the Catholic church and its sins, cataloguing the deaths of "heretics", amongst other things; however, they clearly didn't think people would realise this, and had to put in a disclaimer:

"FIRMAMENT contains words adapted from the King James Bible, Genesis 1:6-20. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT OF THE LUMINARIES contains words adapted from I Enoch 72:2-5. No, this does not mean that we are believers, trying to convert you to join the Church of the Hangman..."

Musically, it is quite diverse, ranging from the coarse and heavy tracks such as "Metaphysics of the Hangman" to elegant, jazzy piano pieces like "Epiphany", combined with a full string quartet, saxaphones, trumpets and trombones and even a vibraphone. Vocally, too, it is excellent, with screams offset by elegant and quiet singing, with well-written, albeit misleading lyrics.

Anthropocentric was, therefore, always going to have a tough act to follow. Focused more on theological problems, it emerged a far heavier, and less diverse album, with the brass instruments removed, and the strings now reduced to the three musketeers, rather than the four seasons. However, although it was an album based almost entirely on raging aural infernos, when it finally decided to allow us a breath of air, "Wille Zum Untergang" was a reflection of perfection: a slow build, steadily increasing as the guitars danced elegantly around each other, and the snare work became slowly more complex - it was magnificent, the epitome of post-metal, the perfect yin to the yang of "She Was The Universe" and other crushing tracks.

The vocals tended more towards screaming in this album, but had a great lyrical range, drawing from sources such as Lord Byron, Friedrich Nietzche (how could they not, given the subject matter?) and Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. However, if you will excuse a brief theological aside, they hardly stand up to close scrutiny. Take, for example, the song "Heaven TV", which claims that heaven will be an empty white sphere, and then uses that idea to attack Christianity. There is no basis for that at all: indeed, the bible describes heaven as not a sphere but a city, and a square one at that. Elsewhere, Staps relies on tricks of the tongue to score cheap points. Whilst none of this detracts from the music, it does leave a somewhat bitter aftertaste, knowing that the lyrics are flawed.

However, one does not buy CDs to be educated on the meaning of life - except, perhaps, for self-help audiobooks. Musically, these CDs are amazing, far greater than I had expected or even dreamed when I picked the first one up that day. The perfect balance of heavy sludge and light, introspective guitar, this is what post-metal should be, and I recommend it most highly.

Summary: Excellent, anti-Catholic post-metal, with great range.

Lyrical Themes: Theology, history of the Catholic church

Rating: 9/10 - Recommended

Track listing:

Heliocentric
1. Shamayim
2. Firmament
3. The First Commandment Of The Luminaries
4. Ptolemy Was Wrong
5. Metaphysics Of The Hangman
6. Catharsis Of A Heretic
7. Swallowed By The Earth
8. Epiphany
9. The Origin Of Species
10. The Origin Of God

Anthropocentric
1. Antropocentric
2. The Grand Inquisitor I: Karamazov Baseness
3. She Was The Universe
4. For He That Wavereth...
5. The Grand Inquisitor II: Roots & Locusts
6. The Grand Inquisitor III: A Tiny Grain Of Faith
7. Sewers Of The Soul
8. Wille Zum Untergang
9. Heaven TV
10. The Almightiness Contradiction

Download Heliocentric
Download Anthropocentric
Download Heliocentral
Download Anthropocentral

Giant Squid - Monster In The Creek

Genre: Sludge Metal, Post-Metal, Progressive/Experimental

Name: Giant Squid

Album: Monster In The Creek (2005)


Sludge without distortion...

I came across this band after re-igniting my interest in Sludge/Post-Metal after buying a CD. Not just any CD, but a CD that spins. More on that another time, however. I heard about Giant Squid, who seemed to fit my criteria completely: I'd never heard of them, nor had anyone I'd spoken to, they were obscure, had a cool name and were, for the most part, impossible to find.
There were no CDs to be found anywhere, and a cursory search of the internet revealed nothing. Eventually, I found what I was looking for: a passworded .rar. After much detective work, with just a user name, I found myself in Portuguese webspace, and, with my (not so) excellent linguistic skills, found the original file, complete with password. And my gosh, was it worth the wait.

Now, personally, I wouldn't class Giant Squid, or at least this EP, as metal. Maybe not as Progressive. Probably not as Post-Metal. Definitely not as Sludge. But clearly I must have my definitions wrong as everyone else seems to think they are. But I adamantly say that they're not.

Now, why would I say that? Well, let's cycle through the genres one by one.
Progressive is out the window because most of it is in simple time signatures. Admittedly, they have a keyboard, but that's not enough. A keyboard alone doesn't make your band progressive.
Post-Metal... well, they're not quite arcane enough. Post-Metal needs to be cryptic and odd and just generally slightly unnerving, like seeing a chainsaw lying around untended in a psychopathic ward in an asylum, or that bit in a level where it's really quiet and empty and there's nothing to kill, but you know that any second the zombie hordes will show themselves. It isn't quite that unusual, or at least, not in that way.
And as for sludge, well, let's just say that distortion has never been important to them, and they don't scream.

So I have dubbed them with the catch-all term "experimental" (the equivalent for rock is that most annoying of terms "Alternative"), and leave it up to you as to what to term them.

Anyway, back to the music.
When listening to this, I'll admit I had to force myself through the first track. Aurielle Zeitler's vocals aren't brilliant, to say the least. She can't carry a song. However, when she reappears in other songs, she makes up for it, and sounds a lot better. But, if you can grin and bear it, "Monster In The Creek" is a good song.

The EP itself has an interesting basis: it's mostly about the the Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916, upon which the novel Jaws was based. It was also self-released - they called themselves Tyrannosaurus Records, which is rather good, as names go.

The best song is by far "Dare We Ask The Widow?", which is typical of the album - it's mysterious, with a haunting opening guitar line that wouldn't seem too out of place a Zelda game. I haven't quite worked out specifically what it's about, but I'm not sure I want to - It can be about anything, and sounds like it should be. The chorus is exquisite, and it's here that Ms. Zeitler comes to her prime. Indeed, this song could be Post-Metal, now I think of it - it's haunting, and odd, and definitely sounds like that bit where the zombies are hiding round the corner.

The EP generally does itself proud: the keyboard and guitar alternate the melody well, and, although the drums sometimes jar slightly, the simplicity makes a change (especially from Tool - 6.5/8 makes for interesting drumming sessions, let me tell you). But, in general, it's very good. It has a somewhat relaxed air about it - none of the songs are particularly fast, nor do they need to be. Occasionally the vocals do break into near shouts, but not enough to make it a trend, and again, they don't need to. The whole EP is clean as a whistle: clean guitar, clean vocals, clean keyboard (can you have a dirty keyboard?) and even clean drums, with open hi-hats being the norm, and I mean that - I think his pedal must be broken. Or he needs double bass for very slow rhythms.

In conclusion, this EP is well worth a listen. It's perfect for that space in a playlist where you need a breather, or an interlude, but it also is perfectly capable of being what you rock out to, or even, at a push, headbang. Fortunately, you don't have to go to Portugal to hear it.

Summary: Not quite mystic, but getting there. Clean, simple, minimalist.
Rating: 7/10

Track listing:
1. Monster In The Creek
2. Dead Man's Creek
3. Age Of Accountability
4. Throwing A Donner Party
5. Dare We Ask The Widow?
6. Lester Stillwell

Which genre would you say they were? Do leave a comment (The bit where it says "X guitarists have auditioned for the band")

Myspace

Download (from a non-Portuguese and non-passworded website)