November 2022 Feature Release - The Infinite Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month's feature release for The Infinite, nominated by me (Shadowdoom9 (Andi)), is the 2013 6th album (not including their instrumental mini-album Fogdiver) by German progressive/post-sludge metal collective The Ocean, Pelagial. It's the album that is part of the Infinite Progressive Metal Modern Era Clan Challenge in which the band's other releases eventually paved the way for me to start a different path through post-sludge. The Ocean's Pelagial is a masterpiece of emotional depths, playing out like an exploration through the different ocean zones, leading down to the deepest. This really deserves some nice deep discussion here in this site.

https://metal.academy/releases/3379

Here's my review summary:

The oceans are vast, deep, powerful, making up 70% of the entire planet Earth, has wrapped around the land, and are a whole different world within our world. Soothing calm seas can make an explosive transformation from the unexplored depths. An entirely fitting metaphor for this German collective, The Ocean! This band, founded in 2000 by guitarist Robin Staps, has created an Ocean of unique genuine metal soundscapes. A good reason to call them a collective is, throughout their career, there has been various members of the band heading in and out of the lineup to help with their post-progressive metal talent and ingenuity. It's a beautiful deep Ocean of passion and creative ability. Soon the band remained a 5-member group led by Staps. The Ocean's deep sound has been re-emerged with Pelagial! This album is a prime example of The Ocean's musically capable emotional depths. Apparently, Pelagial was originally meant to be an instrumental album because singer Loic Rossetti was on hiatus due to vocal health problems. Well there were guest vocals from Tomas Hallbom in a couple songs. Then when Rossetti fully recovered and returned to the band, they decided to record his vocals, turning Pelagial into a full album. The instrumental version is available as a bonus disc in some versions, but in an alternate mix. The end result is an amazing well-executed progressive design. As the record plays, it's as if you're brought back to the surface for a little then dragged back down to the deep descending realms. Each song segues to one another with no breaks to create a big overall album atmosphere, but that does NOT mean it's one long song because of the subtle gentle transitions. It is an 11-track album that is played as 7 songs with 3 of the longer songs split into two or three tracks. These songs are powerful enough for their own definition, thanks to the well-envisioned production. The intensity matches the depths of the ocean, starting meditative and smooth, before getting heavier song after song until you finally reach the dark crushing bottom. The Ocean has performed a fully embodied masterpiece that is Pelagial. The band shall continue their pathway of progressive perfection in amazing grace. Pelagial is the pinnacle for The Ocean and one of the strongest metal masterpieces ever made. However, there are more underwater depths to discover, and despite the need to breathe, this band shall just keep swimming and exploring!

5/5

Recommended tracks: "Mesopelagic: The Uncanny", "Bathyalpelagic I: Impasses", "Abyssopelagic II: Signals of Anxiety", "Hadopelagic II: Let Them Believe", "Demersal: Cognitive Dissonance"

For fans of: Gojira, Mastodon, Neurosis

Here's my review:

Despite the fact that German post-sludge metal icons The Ocean have been regarded as one of the premier exponents in their field for a full two decades now, I haven’t been particularly impressed with my limited encounters with them over the years &, as a result, I’m afraid to say that I’ve got a fairly significant gap in my knowledge of their back catalogue when you consider my passion for the post-sludge subgenre in general. My initial experiences with the band came through their pair of 2010 albums “Heliocentric” & “Anthropocentric”, neither of which I had much time for which resulted in me giving The Ocean a wide berth ever since so it’s probably time for me to review that position given that they're so highly revered by fans of the more progressive end of post-metal.

2013’s ocean-themed seventh full-length album “Pelagial” immediately saw me pricking my ears up due to its highly professional packaging & execution. The technicality is the composition & performances is outstanding & compares very well alongside the gods of the progressive metal world. In fact, despite what you may read to the contrary, “Pelagial” isn’t actually a post-sludge metal record at all. If you look closely you’ll discover that there’s only really a short one minute interlude that fits that description across the entire 53 minutes duration of the album. Instead I’d suggest that what we have here is a progressive metal record at its core with the post-metal & sludge metal components being more or less secondary in the grand scheme of things. This imaginative & creative record will see your more educated metal fans picking out the influence of bands like Mastodon, Tool, Opeth & Dream Theater a lot more than the Cult of Luna & Isis references that highlighted most of The Ocean’s earlier works with the band only turning their focus towards sludgier territory for any extended period of time right at the end of the tracklisting via progressive sludge epic “Demersal: Cognitive Dissonance” & the pure sludge-fest of closer “Benthic: The Origin of Our Wishes”. I’d suggest that it’s only the gruff hardcore vocal delivery of front man Loïc Rossetti that sees people being tempted into the sludgier genre tags but in truth he spends just as much time (if not more) exploring his cleaner & more melodic side of his creative repertoire.

“Pelagial” is an extremely consistent record with every one of the eleven tracks being very solid indeed. There are a few really impressive highlight tracks included (see “Bathyalpelagic I: Impasses”, “Abyssopelagic II: Signals of Anxiety” & “Benthic: The Origin of Our Wishes”) but they don’t tend to be the lengthier inclusions which sees me tending to steer away from my higher ratings. The rest of the songs are all very well written & executed but I’m not sure they have the hooks to fully differentiate themselves from each other. I do think it was a bit of a strange decision to tie the two 9+ minute epics together at the back end of the tracklisting as this makes the album drag a bit & seem a little more elongated than it actually is. On the positive side of things though, both of the short interludes are outstanding inclusions & add a lot to the album in my opinion.

It's hard to be too critical of an album that possesses the sheer class that “Pelagial” undeniably does. It’s challenging in all the right ways & I rarely find myself losing engagement. Perhaps it’s just the victim of a little “style over substance” at times but it’s not easy to get the technically vs memorability ratio exactly right & The Ocean come a lot closer to the mark than the vast majority of their peers so I’d have to say that I’ve been converted by this record. I’ll not only be returning to it in the future but will also make a point of doing a little more experimentation with the band’s back catalogue in the future too.

For fans of Mastodon, Intronaut & Ghost Brigade.

4/5