The Ocean Collective - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic (Album Review In English)

"Strange as it may seem, we understand the distribution of matter in the center of the Sun much better than we understand the interior of the Earth."

~ Richard Feynman ~

Two years have passed since the release of the much-discussed "Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic", an album that if we think of it as a primary base, is the Phanerozoic Megaeon, which is divided into 3 centuries: Paleozoic, Mesozoic & Cenozoic.

It is essentially an album that is divided into 2 chapters, it was examined in the 1st in 2018, now it is time to examine a completely different aspect of philosophy and it is that of the Mesozoic - Cenozoic century and with this theme the excellent German Experimental / Post Metallers, The Ocean will take us on a journey through their 6th consecutive "Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic" released about 1 month ago via Metal Blade Records, the great journey back in time begins.

It all starts with the very traveling sound of the guitar in the track "Triassic", otherwise known as the Triassic period. A period that concerns the beginning and the end of species extinction events.

The whole atmosphere in their sound, reminds me to the highest degree of the philosophy of Tool, as we find greater maturity and a more melodic character than the previous album, very beautiful melodies, tremendous riffs, aggressive and at the same time atmospheric and the vocals give a a very special note in the whole synthetic ring called "progress".

If we think about it, it is a synthetic style quite bold, I would say, with the guitars in some places either giving an intense rhythm of reflection, or the tone of the Distorted vocals giving rage to the whole thematic issue, the changes from the most orgiastic to more melodic sound of the vocals, with the whole Post, Progressive and "Muddy" sound of the guitar giving the impression that it is moving towards the most Djent paths.

It was an amazing start and I was very fascinated by tuning the guitar, as I also notice a bit of ethnic playing in some places, offering the feeling of the East regarding the guitar.

Jurassic | Cretaceous the Otherwise Jurassic and Cretaceous period. At this point I will make a parenthesis, because it is worth noting the historical significance of these names. Jurassic or Jurassic period, is the 2nd part of the extinction of species (commonly animals), is also known as the "century of reptiles", is divided into 3 sub-periods (Early, Middle, Late).

The Jurassic was named after the famous French geologist Alexandre Bronnier and finally Cretan comes from the Latin word Creta which means Chalk and is the period where the largest mass extinctions of organisms in Earth history, such as those of the Dinosaurs, Flying and marine reptiles and many other invertebrates, let me not talk too much about them.

We move on to the music track, another amazing collaboration with the great musician Jonas Renske (Katatonia, Bloodbath) as Guest, who ties in wonderfully with Loic's voice.

The Promo Single which was the first track that was published in the press, to get a taste of what awaits us, a song of exceptional class, with a guitar at the beginning of which I miss Dream Theater at "Systematic Chaos" of 2008, more progressive style in which the guitar groove is kept clean so that the sound remains full, with the keys giving a more sick character.

The mystery of this song, if you listen carefully, is that from one point onwards it changes into something else, having in Tempo a more spacious sound that gently takes you back to the next season, I liked experimenting with percussions that sound like applause, it has a more Jungle character, as the keys and the Synthesizer make me long for the experimentation of Muse's Album "Absolution" (2003).

I have said it countless times and I will say it again, this is something of theirs! I loved this Single and just on Repeat from day 1 !!! It imposingly enters from 9:22 and then a set of imposing ones enters, especially in the disagreements, it sends you!

This point sends you to another planet, as if this band is from another planet, how did you turn it, how did you turn it, how did it rage! Only the almighty Apollo knows it, as if they have the Beethoven Gene, so beautiful! 13 minutes that keep you in tension, on a trip and make you feel that you are not listening to a simple band, you are listening to a band with a future, with no mistakes!

Few bands dare to do this and they succeed! 12:00, Break and "OUT OF THE CAVE, YOU CAN FEEL THE WEATHER CHANGE". An explosion from nowhere and as if it has exploded out of nowhere and you want to hear the blast on the drums again and again !!!

Palaeocene the Old Age begins after the extinction of the species and the end of the Cretaceous.

Here we notice that the sound becomes more intense and imposing with the bass giving a special rhythm and with the vocals giving a more "Modern" sound, which is also slightly darker in its style, to bring to mind the philosophy of Opeth in their first steps, having a more Gojira style and "Muddy" Pattern.

Something that arouses the interest of many listeners as they will hear it and then they will realize that they are referring to a strong production and their own touches. It deceives you but it is a bit of a trap. I would say it sounds more like a soundtrack than a song!

Eocene  This Track's Title comes from the words Ios which means Dawn and Kaino which means young, at first sight the Beginning of the modern Fauna.
A rather relaxed start with Tomas Hallbom (The Old Wind) as Guest. It is essentially the continuation of the previous track in the most melodic if we think about it, it just continues more atmospherically, with a beautiful more Blues guitar.

It seems that they really experimented with music here as you will see for yourself that it is a "Narrative" based on the reception of modern fauna, a very interesting and clever piece.

Oligocene or Oligocairo, the last era of the Paleogene. This is an Instrumental consisting of Synthesizer, Modern sounds and more Post on the button as it strongly describes the end of the Paleogene, as if it creates an atmosphere of more Space, simply amazing!!

Miocene | Pilocene Neolithic the beginning of the Neolithic period ending in the Pleistocene era. the second era of the Neolithic period of the Cenozoic era.

Start with a beautiful bass that marries extremely well with the guitar that seems to ride around the keys, as the rhythm from behind accompanies this marriage very nicely, which turns into a more Alternative style and more Space. The Feeling that you travel from one period to another and welcome the next one so imposing and at the same time so beautiful is at least ... Impressive!

Here I will say that the feeling of the compositions of "Minutes To Midnight" of Linkin Park comes strongly, but in the most melodic, more professional and at the same time in the most Progressive with a very nice ending of the reception of "Pleistocene", the trip to the Pleistocene!

Welcome to the well-known Ice Age, where glaciers are identified with the cold and the violin itself travels you through melancholy times.

Sound color that clearly reminds a bit of Vivaldi's philosophy in "Four Seasons". Here we find the amazing piano, the keys and the violin that fit nicely and the minimal guitar that sounds which matched it perfectly !!! Thus showing the beginning of evolution, in which we find the 2 syllables (Most and New = Newer), In short the development of science and man.

The touch of Dalai Theofilopoulou was a very beautiful touch but along the way a very strong surprise awaits us, which clearly reminds us of alternations that mostly only Black Metal bands take risks, in short as time goes by you will see that the vocals are done more intensely and suddenly we see a dynamic playing, a melody that hangs and a Scream that you keep your mouth open and you are troubled by the question "Did the song change?" , so eee is not the same band and this is called "MUSIC EVOLUTION".

The whole flow is given mainly the feeling of cold and glacier, which is so pathetic and so expressive and in the end a more Djent playing that brings to mind Meshuggah !!!

Holocene and thus together with the Holocene season, constitute the Quaternary period, which is divided into 2 seasons (Holocene and Pleistocene season).
Essentially it is the end titles and the ending for the denominator that separates all this mystery of the puzzle.

It starts with a key deformation quite dark, as if a meteorite is coming from nowhere and as you feel the drums giving rhythm, you realize the melody travels you to the phenomenon of all this existence, a problematic sound, which hides many secrets about the truth.

The bass is so perfect, with a rather exquisite tone, reminiscent of a more blues style on the guitar, an excellent bass line technique, with a simple thought through the violin to turn it into a great corridor, which ends a record with a future.

In this piece, I will say that my only objection is the repetition in Tempo and sound color, I felt like listening to a simple sound in Outro style, where I confess that this was not their best, while they can do better, much better, in any case it is a nice ending, which could have room for improvement.

In the music industry of Germany, I find that on the one hand it starts to become a bee prematurely and acquires a more global view through the music, in addition to the sounds we have combined in that the underlying country is famous (Heavy, Thrash, Power Metal mainly ), on the other hand, I think he is in a hurry.

I have to admit that The Ocean Collective is now trying to define their musical identity, at a fairly high level, I think it is an album that strongly surpassed the beginning of the Phanerozoic Age (Paleozoic Century) by many steps ahead.

An impressive idea, which usually becomes tedious due to the many alternations of sounds, Ocean musicians, I think they break this tradition and now give something of their own, something that will occupy the global music industry and many bands to think about experiment and dare.

On the cover you follow the philosophy of the Earth's reflection, that it has begun to slowly desert, if you pay attention to the Background, or that it has begun to be on the edge of the cliff, something that should concern us all.

Musically I see a very nice collaboration with Jens Bogren in the recording part as he is famous for his sound skills. An album that was ready from December 2019 and went through 40 waves, literally making it around Europe (Spain, Iceland, Germany and Sweden). Excellent work, well done to the whole Team that worked hard !!!

Rating: 95%

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