Oceano – Incisions (Earache)
Sunday, 27th October 2013
Oh boy: “We’re starting a new chapter in this band. We’re not selling out. We’re not getting soft. We’re getting more fucked up and bringing more hate. And if you want us to change, then you’re gonna be disappointed. We’re not gonna replicate any album that we’ve ever released. We’re going to get more evil than anything you’ve heard from this band. Today will show the start of how hateful this record is gonna be.” – Oceano guitarist Nick Conser.
Conser is understandably fired-up, the result of his band being routinely ragged-on for their low-level deathcore sound. Every style needs to have a punching bag, and while there are a lot of would-be suitors in the deathcore field, Oceano do get a lot of backlash, probably because they’re so unabashed about the whole thing. They shouldn’t try to defend themselves against “regular” metal punters – that’s a mountain they’re never going to climb. What they should do is go the Suicide Silence route and keep playing music for dudes with tats, tank tops, and cyclops hair cuts. They gobble this stuff up, and should follow suit for the band’s new Incisions album.
At ground level, Oceano can throw around some meaty riffs when they’re so inclined. The bristle and gristle of “Slow Murder” is moderately enjoyable for its downward strokes and chugs, and you’re going to get a lot of hearty gurgles from vocalist Adam Warren, who remains perhaps the only halfway interesting thing about this band. But then one starts to go down the line on some really insipid-sounding songs, some of which scratch and claw from the bottom of the barrel from the band’s previous Contagion album. So really, Incisions isn’t more evil or fucked up or anything, for that matter. It’s pretty harmless, actually.
