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Reviews
...And Oceans: The dynamic gallery of thoughts
18/06/07 || Global Domination
As far as well-executed symphonic, vicious and wacky black metal goes, it doesn’t get much better than the now defunct crazy Finns from …And Oceans. Just click on the link that takes you to their website and you’ll be able to appreciate how deranged these dudes truly are. It fucken hurt my eyes and ears so bad I almost couldn’t finish the damn review. Back in 1998, these guys were just a bit insane though, not ready to be locked up on a mental institution just yet, and came up with this awesome record. A highly creative and talented band, it’s a shame their evolution took them away from the metal scene. If they had kept at it, who knows where they would be now.
“The Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts” is comprised basically of the usual elements for this kind of black metal: heavily distorted blazing guitars, blastbeats aplenty, a rasping troll on the mic, and a keyboard adding the melodic edge. Not too impressive, huh? Well, you’d be making the fucken wrong assumption. It’s the way that those elements come together in this exceptional record what makes these guys an essential listen. Their songwriting is fucken memorable, possessing a chaotic and grandiose atmosphere that makes every song here fucken majestic.
Just listen to the opener “Trollfan” and the follow-up “The Room of Thousand Arts”. Those are the perfect examples of how keyboards should be used in black metal to create great music. Simple style, very effective, no unnecessary orchestrations, straight to the point, kicking your corpse-painted butt ten times over. This awesome keyboard work gives the band edge and identity of its own. “Je Te Connais Beau Masque” has one hell of a build up, the song propells forward between stages of melody and madness that simply belong to a higher level of music. Creating great progressions is a trait that they had and surely exploited all through this record, making the whole experience very smooth and fluid despite the length of some of the songs.
By the way, the record doesn’t lack balls, in case you “trve” dudes are wondering. The wall of noise from the guitars and drums rages on violently as with the best out there. That Killstar guy must have shreded his larynx, he screams maniacally all over the place, and adds some weird laughing and falsettos here and there. The drumming is mainly blastbeats, and, hmmm, let me think… more blasbeats! Almost no respite, but they work well. Blasbeats are good, ya know? When done in the right places, blatsbeats are scientifically proven to improve the blood flow into the listener’s penis.
The production is good, every instrument is given room to be heard clearly. The lyrics are kinda confusing, some in Finnish, some in English, and some songs have verses in both languages alternating, and even a title in French? Fucken weirdoes! I have no gripes whatsoever with the record, except maybe the production of the guitars, which could’ve used a bit more punch, but well, that’s me nittpicking, I like guitars to be fucken high on the mix.
Every corpse-painted goon out there that fancies Dimmu Borgir and their like should know about these guys by now. I do, although I don’t paint meself, that’s kinda ghey if you’re not in a good black metal band. If you haven’t listened to …And Oceans yet, do yerself a favor and do it. This should be on the black metal textbooks, under the chapter of, let’s say, Symphonic Perfection. This is an excellent, impressive album from one of the best bands ever emerged from Finland, a must listen if you’re into this genre. Go find it and stop playing with yerself, you blastbeat freak!
8.5 demented Finns out of 10
- Information
- Released: 1998
- Label: Seasons of Mist
- Website: www.endpointzero.net
- Band
- Killstar: vocals
- Pete: guitars
- T: guitars
- Mr. Oos: bass
- Martex: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Trollfan
- 02. The Room of Thousand Arts
- 03. Som Öppna Böcker
- 04. Je Te Connais Beau Masque
- 05. Mikrobotik Fields / Ur Aldrig Saga Och Sang
- 06. Samtal Med Tankar = Halo Of Words
- 07. September (När Hjärtat Blöder)
- 08. Kärsimyksien Vaaleat Kädet