Hailing from Houston, Texas and forming in 2011, Oceans Of Slumber have arrived on the metal scene with their self-released debut Aetherial. It’s a sprawling and extremely accomplished album, filled to the brim with varying styles, genres and sounds, and not to mention the extremely skilled musicianship from each of the band’s five members. So, it’s technically superb, but is it a rewarding listen? In short, yes.
Various jazz elements are mixed in tastefully with the predominant metal style of the music, with the intricate drum work perhaps the most impressive of these ingredients. Vocalist Ronnie Allen also utilises a variety of vocal styles throughout, and is as varied as the guitar and drum work, ranging from restrained yet skilled singing right through to merciless screeching. In truth, however, the material here is so varied that the listener – depending on their tastes – may possibly find him or herself enjoying one section tremendously, and not at all the next. All this variety certainly makes for an entertaining listen; it’s actually fun just to try to guess what will happen next, and the surprises keep on coming. Quite apart from that though, the ride is made all the more thrilling as, with every twist and turn, you are impressed at just how much this band can do; at times, it’s like listening to a modern-day King Crimson sans Mellotron, or present day Devin Townsend sans madcap eccentricity.
Any good album review should give the reader an accurate mental image of the content of its subject, which inevitably leads to genre categorisation. In this case however, there are so many different styles present that it would be pointless attempting to categorise Aetherial by genre. It’s an album which could most accurately be described as ‘progressive metal’. It’s made progressive by the sheer variety on offer, and the complexity and intricacy of some of the arrangements. No other labels could really do this work justice; they would only account for a small fraction of the material on this extraordinary concoction. Regardless, this is an album which is impossible to ignore; a highly enjoyable piece of work from a band whom – one presumes – will only go on to improve even further.
8/10
Matt Ford