Tag Archives: WWE

Oceano – Ascendants

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Releasing their fourth album in only six years, all on Earache, Chicago, Illinois’ Oceano don’t do two things – subtlety or surprises. Wading in like a behemoth sumo, with each stab of the guitar representing a tree-trunk leg thudding down and with each pig squeal signifying the friction of flabby thigh slapping flabby thigh, the beatdown-focused Ascendants lumbers into town, modelling deathcore 101 with the open string chug enhanced by some tight and imaginative percussive work.

Taking their cue from Thy Art Is Murder and All Shall Perish’s more staccato moments, Oceano’s is a considered violence, a repetitive ham-hock fist to the head with pendulum regularity and in no particular rush; it’s the troll wading through the sea of bodies that are trying to force it back in an exercise in futility. For those who enjoy their pro-wrestling, they are the Big Show; cumbersome, but effective (and somehow higher-profile than you think they deserve to be, and you prefer the other, more interesting wrestlers anyway….).

Oceano are also beginning to suffer from the inevitable law of diminishing returns. If their debut, Depths, one of the best examples of deathcore to date, showcased diversity in amongst the rhythmic bullying chug and Contagion had a darker, twisted feel, Ascendants is Oceano at their lowest common denominator, most Neanderthal, a notion that is enhanced by ‘Dawn of Descent’ and it’s more atmospheric endeavours, which help it stand out in a sea of proto-human repetitive pounding.

Other acts, in particular Suicide Silence, have shown it’s possible to continue to progress a sound and develop as a band while retaining a deathcore identity (though the further they, and others move from the deathcore “core” the more successful they are and the better they sound), but Ascendants is still a decent, if unspectacular, repetitive brain injury of a deathcore album. With (another) new line up in place, one wonders about the future of Oceano as not even by playing it safe and playing the genre card to the max – for this is dictionary definition beatdown laden deathcore – is enough to bring Ascendants up to the level of their previous outings.

 

6.0/10

Oceano on Facebook

 

STEVE TOVEY


Fozzy – Do You Wanna Start A War?

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When Chris Jericho rose to stardom in the WWE (or WWF as it was then) rings of the late 90’s he burst through the exciting, dangerous, Extreme (Championship Wrestling) influenced times of the “Attitude era” as a firebrand, risky, exciting loud-mouth. His intro hit, the arena darkened, and there he stood, mic in hand with everyone on the edge of their seat. In the ring, he’d go Hardcore, Lion-saulting around, adding to the unpredictable chaos that was pro-wrestling at its best. And he was one of the best.

Yet, fifteen years on, the WWE product has become boring, while Jericho’s own character turns up every few months for a run of cheap pops and some same old same old, the impulsive inspiration gone, as the five-moves-of-doom are performed with safety paramount – and we’re not talking safety in terms of not doing ridiculous things with barbed wire or smackdowning someone with a steel chair to the head (that is completely understood) – but in terms of stories, angles, match content and arcs.

And so Chris Jericho and his Heavy Metal Roadshow, Fozzy, return for album number six, Do You Wanna Start A War? (Century Media) and that theme of safety is prevalent again as they run through another slew of disposable rock/metal/groove tunes that scream WWE Metal. When Stuck Mojo (from which band guitarist Rich Ward and drummer Frank Fontsere originate) released an album with a wrestling belt on the cover maybe it wouldn’t have been a huge leap to see them penning pro-wrestling entrance theme and Pay-Per-View music in their future.

For that is what Fozzy is; safe, obvious, predictable music that suits being played over promos of uninspiring wannabes oozing testosterone at each other. Do You Wanna Start A War? is interchangeable with any number of Soils, Drowning Pools, Salivas, Black Label Societys or Shinedowns with its obvious grooves and you-know-what’s-coming-next choruses.

Jericho’s vocals are decent, even if you can hear the auto-tune at times, and there is a bit of schizophrenia abound as they flit from heavier grooves to trying to be radio hits, succeeding on the feel-good ‘Tonite’ which features Steel Panther’s Michael Starr but overall, even in the realms of mainstream more commercial rock/metal, there are plenty more doing it better.

File under “alright” and spend your time listening to something more worthwhile. Like the new Woven War.

 

5.0/10

Fozzy on Facebook

 

STEVE TOVEY