PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Oceans Of Night are an equalized balance of progressive rock and modern metal. They experiment with com-positional methods and technological innovations, fronted with compelling vocals. The band is made up with three highly talented musicians, Scott Mosher guitar and keyboards, Scott Oliva on vocals and Alan Smithee on drums and percussion.
The nature of their music and the complexity it has within, you wouldn’t believe only three people would make up Oceans Of Night. They have two albums, their 1st one was ‘The Shadow Heart Mirror’ back in 2009 and now they newest release ‘Domain’.
‘Domain’ takes you on an emotional path, inspiring thematic images that are dream like. It starts with an epic song of 17 minutes and 27 seconds, but don’t let the length put you off. The sounds effects begin, drawing in to your own imagination. Now the song is called ‘Domain’ so individually you would create your own picture of this “Domain”. Slowly the percussion comes in creating an atmosphere that instantly grabs you. A whisper of haunted vocals comes through before a slash of heavy guitar and drums. The song is made up of different dynamic layers, playing with a variant of characters. There are times where drums lead you into thinking there is a dramatic finish with the slamming of the symbals, but then becomes a peaceful sound of lighter tones backed with a robotic vocal effect, speaking upon change, time and life. The harmonic solos in this piece are technical proficiency, this mastery has it’s own expedition.
The second song ‘Don’t Look To Me’ has more melody than instrumental, it feels like a follow on from the attributes of the first song. Moving into ‘So Near and Yet so Far’ it has a lot of similarities from the other two songs, so I’m starting to yearn for a more heavy touch.
A short instrumental piece ‘Dreams Of Artificial Sunlight’ brings in the abundance that is needed, starting with a heartbeat and whispers that you can’t quite grasp what they are saying. The build up of percussion and electrophonic’s introduces the metal edge of ‘Oceans Of Night’, bringing the interest back into the album. We see this medal edge flow through into ‘Divisions of time’ with a more bulky backline and a catchy melody. Lyrically this is the strongest one.
‘Seven Days of Rain’ has a relaxing opening, but due to the heart of the other songs your a little on edge just in case there is something lurking underneath and yes there is, as the weather gets more aggressive, a military beat comes forth as a harmonic solo begins with chords that sigh, it raises an outburst that is truly striking but fades out far too quickly to finish.
‘The View To You’ starts off with a great power metal essence but this sort of trails off and becomes predictable with similar aspects to the earlier songs. It is a lengthy song of about eight minutes, re-introducing different parts of the song. I will say it has a good groove bassline that carries it right through to the end.
There is a instrumental piece that kicks life back into this album with a pealing drum pattern and a weighty distorted guitar lick, as the harmonic solo is introduced it takes the edge of the full force, heightening each chord played. It fades to finish but a sudden end feels more appropriate.
The ending of the album is dramatic, with a moreish for crash symbals and powerful melody. Vocally strong, it is ‘The future Remembered’ and ‘Ghosts of the Past’ where we truly see the capability of Scott Oliva.
Overall this album has a great deal of ambiance, it cleverly plays upon different musical mediums that are intriguing to listen to. There is a lot more to this album than prog rock, it is far more intelligent. This album demands to be listened to and is an album I would highly recommend. 9/10
Track Listing.
1. Domain
2. Don’t Look To Me
3. So Near Yet So Far
4. Dreams Of Artificial Sunlight
5. Divisions Of Time
6. Seven Days of Rain
7. The View To You
8. Instruments Of Fear
9. The Future Remembered
10. Ghosts Of The Past
