The Ocean - "Holocene"

Music you can drown in

Modern Prog Metal is a serious weakness for me. Bands like VOLA, Soen, Leprous, and, now, The Ocean just scratch an itch that nothing else does. It’s deep, complex, melodic, and often cerebral. Listening to this album after Mystic Prophecy’s offering is like flipping a coin - it’s still definitely METAL, but it’s so incredibly different.

But it gets better - The Ocean takes that modern prog sound and blends it with Post-Metal, which is all about bleak, desolate soundscapes. And the combination is just…*chef’s kiss*.

Toss in some sludge and electronic elements for good measure, and this album just fires on all cylinders for the majority of its 52 minute duration.

The Ocean names their albums after historic eras in Earth’s history. This one is called “Holocene”. I don’t quite know yet how this affects the album composition - I have more research to do on that front; all I have taken the time to find thus far is that the Holocene is the current geological epoch.

The album’s best stretch is the middle - tracks 4-6, “Atlantic”, “Subboreal”, and the first half of “Unconformities”. That final track might be the best on the album, with guest vocalist Karin Park stealing the show, but the second half involves a lot of repetition, which sinks it a bit.

Still, this is one of my favorite albums of the year so far.

Rating: Blue