The Ocean-Precambrian

Over the last year or so, I've grown to prefer shorter albums over the sprawling, ambitious epics I used to favor.  Even though The Alchemy Index is my favorite work by Thrice, I choose to listen to Artist in the Ambulance or Vheissu more often simply because I don't have time for an hour and a half of elemental brilliance. More examples abound, but I think you get the picture. So when an extremely long album gets more than a few listens a year from me, it has to have made an impression.

Precambrian by the Ocean (formerly known as The Ocean Collective) is two discs long and nearly an hour and a half in length. Yet in the last year I have owned it, the album hasn't bored me once, and it continues to provide me with that thrill of discovering something new in a well-listened piece of music even after repeated listens.

Precambrian's concept alone is enough to enthrall listeners interested in intellectual music. The music is based loosely on the theoretical ages assigned to precambrian Earth by scientists, beginning with the violent Hadean age when a planetoid is theorized to have slammed into the Earth and formed the moon from the resulting rubble cloud. This is captured perfectly well by the music, an odd but extremely natural blend of sludge, post-metal, hardcore, and an indescribable flavor unique to the band. As continents rip apart and volcanic upheavals shake the globe, drop-A guitars and jagged, metallic riffs orchestrate the events. The vocals range from deathy, hardcore-tinged growls to high pitched shrieks to smooth, almost jazzy cleans. And amongst it all, little instrumental highlights pop up in the form of an occasional piano melody or string quartet, such as in the closing track Cryogenian, or the instrumental Statherian.

To say that Precambrian's music is technical would be an understatement. The band operates nearly indefinitely within odd time signatures and somehow makes every single rhythm completely unpredictable. Classical scales are used freely, and song structures are very methodically chaotic. Music of this level of technicality threatens to become immensely difficult to stomach, but Precambrian manages to make their two discs extremely entertaining. Rather than glazing over at the ever-changing sounds, the listener is sucked into the atmosphere of foreboding doom of Rhycasian, lulled into beautiful bell and chime verses, and then jolted awake by one of the most crushingly heavy interludes I have ever heard.

Despite its prehistoric concept, Precambrian's lyrics use them as metaphors for current day issues such as environmentalism and philosophy. Even though lyrics are of secondary importance to me, it's still awe-inspiring how deeply one could delve into the themes and parallelisms of the concepts behind the songs. And this really illustrates Precambrian's appeal quite well: it is an album for people who like to search every corner of their music for details, who love to understand complex themes, both musically and lyrically, and who enjoy endless replay value. Of all the supposed "metal masterpieces" lauded by metalheads everywhere, this is one of the most deserving and underappreciated examples I have heard.

Hadean: The opening track on the first disc, this violent little song shows the more straightforward but still highly technical side of Precambrian. Try to follow the rhythms in that opening riff. Just when you think you have it down, something changes to make it interesting to listen to. The abrasive shrieks of "You must pay your dues!" are a definite highlight.

http://www.mediafire.com/?x7uo6l2lxthgkg2

Ectasian: Representing the more ambitious and progressive second disc, Ectasian is a study in song structure. The enigmatic opening of strings and piano leads into a crushing yet simple B-section that almost descends into banality... until the song erupts into a technical frenzy just past the four-minute mark. The clean vocals and odd time signature of the interlude strongly evoke Tool references, and the main riff is one of the more intense moments on the album. A true masterpiece of songwriting.

http://www.mediafire.com/?jj5nsn4h7zcjh1t

maudlin of the Well-Bath

In music, as in all forms of art, there come works that cannot be analyzed or quantified as to why they are as beautiful as they are. Sometimes, even artists are baffled as to why every brushstroke or note is executed to perfection, creating something much greater than the sum of its parts. Similarly, sometimes we as consumers of art are inexplicably drawn in to a work by which we are completely swept away.

As I try to explain why maudlin of the Well's "Bath" is that work to me, I am frustrated by the fact that since I cannot explain why every second of this album moves me in this way, I am powerless to relate it to anyone else. Making the task even more frustrating is the fact that "Bath", like all of Toby Driver's works, is impossible to categorize into a genre. The opener "The Blue Ghost/Shedding Quliphoth" is like a post-rock take on a classic Genesis piece, with its otherworldly atmosphere and climactic song structure. "Bath" then oddly transitions into "They Aren't All Beautiful", which can be summarized basely as "jazz metal". What begins as a meaty death metal song with growled vocals transitions into a heavy version of Steely Dan or some other swing/jazz band.

And from there, "Bath" becomes even more difficult to place. From "Heaven and Weak"s enchantingly gorgeous classical influences, to "The Ferryman"s over the top organ intro, to the charming instrumental interludes, Toby Driver never fails to offer up variety, all the while carefully distributing different sounds so as to never become overbearing. On songwriting prowess alone, "Bath" should be lauded as one of the works of the century simply because it is more successfully eclectic than anything else I have ever heard.

But what makes "Bath" so special is not its amazing variety. Indeed, Driver's ability to transition seamlessly from crushing to frail in "Birth Pains of Astral Projection" would be meaningless if it were a detached showcase of music theory. "Bath"s real strength lies in its deep emotion, its heart-rending beauty, and its strange connection it so easily forges with the listener. Hearing "The Blue Ghost"s ethereal theme reprised by clarinet in "Girl With a Watering Can" and by guitar harmonics in "Geography" hits home in a way I cannot describe. The melancholy melody sung by female vocals in "Girl With a Watering Can" is the very embodiment of immersion, coupled with the distant electric guitar and light keyboards. And "Birth Pains of Astral Projection" is emotionally harrowing every time, with its epic climax in the middle and its glacial calm at the end, made perfect by Toby's frail singing.

In the end, it is impossible to describe how perfect "Bath" really is, right down to the mysteriously forlorn album art. This is true art at its finest, able to tap into the deepest reaches of what drives our human emotions without one mention of a break-up or of death. It's almost disturbing how effortlessly Driver connects with the listener on this album. To ignore it as much of the rest of the internet and blogging community has since its 2001 release would be depriving oneself of one of the finest works of art of the century.

My favorite song of all time:

Birth Pains of Astral Projection

Not Again

Yeah, sorry. This blog has sort of turned into Rosetta's little private promo page. I just can't get over how great this is. Listen and enjoy. While you're at it, lay under the stars and gaze into the Milky Way while you listen.

Rosetta-Je N'en Connais Pas La Fin

Just beautiful.

Deftones-Diamond Eyes

In 2000, experimental metal band Deftones released White Pony, an album lauded by many to be the "greatest album ever" or something like that. While I thought it was good, great even, it took me forever to get into and even now I shy away from such a hyperbole. Their next two albums, a self-titled and Saturday Night Wrist brought a lot more to the table, I thought, and gave them an easier aesthetic. What's more, they made me understand why the band was so great. Heavy metal riffing combined with alternately soothing and maniacal vocals and thrilling ambiance made them something few bands can lay claim to: Completely and totally unique, and completely and totally unclassifiable.

With the release of Diamond Eyes, Deftones have made the journey from the dark metal of White Pony to the dreamy soundscapes of Saturday Night Wrist, undeniably growing in quality and scope with each release. So before the release of Diamond Eyes, it was reasonable to assume that there would be a natural progression, an adjustment that would refine and expand upon the melodic aesthetics of their previous release, while retaining that edgy heaviness that has defined them from the beginning.

Diamond Eyes shatters that assumption.

Where White Pony trudged in doom-y anticipation, Diamond Eyes lurches forward with a gleeful immediacy. Where Saturday Night Wrist simmers in paranoid beauty, Diamond Eyes transcends to make something truly gorgeous. In short, Diamond Eyes is all over the place in every aspect except quality. Every Deftones album has its highlights. Who can forget set pieces like "Knife Prty", "Battle Axe", or "Rats! Rats! Rats!"? Perhaps the most unexpected part about Diamond Eyes is how nearly every song is a highlight and a masterpiece. Tracks like "976-Evil" and "Diamond Eyes" throw out unbelievable melodic hooks that bleed effortlessly into ambient bridges or chugging verses. Songs like "CMD/CTRL" assault the listener with heavy verses, then somehow pull off an electronic swell when it's least expected, then capitalize on the surprise by following up with a catchy alt rock guitar riff.

With all the variety being discussed, it's easy to imagine Diamond Eyes as overbearing or too eclectic. And to me, that's the greatest part about it. The musicians have mastered the art of combining their influences into something completely seamless. Not only do Stephen Carpenter's 7-string metal chords sound completely appropriate in the ballad-y "Beauty School", they contribute heavily to the dreamy ambiance of the song. Frank Delgado's electronics and turntables have never sounded better than when placed alongside the violent heaviness in "Risk" and "Royal". The rhythm section is also ridiculously talented as always, with headbanging catchiness from both drums and bass, most notably in the otherwise sub-par "Prince".

But as always, the number one defining feature of Deftones' sound is and always will be vocalist Chino Moreno. His soothing croons in "Beauty School" are goosebump-inducing. His rabid shrieks in "Rocket Skates" are somehow brilliantly juxtaposed with a high-pitched "WHOO!" that would sound more fitting in a pop-rock song if they were coming from anyone else. His screams of "It's okay, I'm alright" in "Prince" both drive the song forward and make it readily apparent that neither statement is true. And he even experiments in new vocal territory by successfully belting in a mainstream rock-like voice in "976-Evil"s uplifting chorus.

In many ways, this is the Deftones that we've all come to know and love over the years. They're still highly experimental, wonderfully eclectic, and cohesive as a band. Yet somehow this is a new Deftones, artistically unrestrained and triumphantly, almost cockily brandishing the success of their new songwriting skills with every track. It feels like they've hit their potential after years of fine-tuning. Yet I also said that about Deftones and Saturday Night Wrist, so it would possibly be more accurate to assume that with every new release, they've used their enormous potential to reach new creative heights. Deftones have finally completely outdone themselves and created something few artists have achieved. They have crafted a perfect artistic manifesto; a perfect album.

Sample Track: Beauty School (download)

One song is sadly inadequate to get a full picture of this album. This song displays approximately one tenth of the territory covered in Diamond Eyes. Just know if you listen that it's equally as awesome as the rest of the album.