The Ocean - Precambrian (2007)

This week I’ll be treating you with a wee bit of harsh vocals, since I haven’t presented any album of such nature since my first review. Such a gentle soul I have, right?

Agreed, yes? Now let’s dig in.

I don’t know how many of you have heard of this collective of musicians, but I was not prepared when I first heard this (double) album release.  I said collective, yes? Well that is right, because at the time this beast was released the band had more than (the now current) six members. How many? Well, lemme just show you the lineup. 

 

Impressed? Well, that’s not complete either, I’ll just post the full list for better understanding.

Hadean/Archaean (1’st  Disc) :

- Torge Liessmann / drums, percussion
- Matt Beels / guitar
- Robin Staps / guitar, percussion
- Walid Farruque / guitar (track 2)
- Micheal Pilat / bass, vocals (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5)
- Nico Webers / vocals (tracks 1, 2, 3)
- Nate Newton / vocals (track 3)
- Eric Kalsbeek / vocals (track 4)
- Meta / vocals (tracks 1, 5)
- Rene Nocon / vocals (track 3)
- Jason Emry / vocals (track 3)

Proterozoic(2’nd Disc):

- Torge Liessmann / drums, percussion
- Matt Beels / guitar, vocals (tracks 2, 6, 7)
- Robin Staps / guitar
- Micheal Pilat / bass (tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 7), vocals (tracks 2, 3, 6, 8)
- Hannes Huefken / bass (tracks 4 and 8)
- Jonathan Heine / bass (track 6)
- Stefan Heinemeyer / cello (tracks 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9)
- Karina Suslov / viola (tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
- Christoph Von Der Nahmer / violin (tracks 2, 3, 4, 8)
- Katharina Sellheim / piano (tracks 2, 6, 7, 8, 9)
- John Gürtler / saxophone (track 1)
- Daniel Eichholz / glockenspiel (tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 7)
- Jonas Olsson / tambourine (tracks 5, 7, 8)
- Tomas Svensson / additional samples (track 1)
- Nico Webers / vocals (tracks 2, 5, 8)
- Meta / vocals (tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8)
- Tomas Halbom / vocals (track 7)
- Rene Nocon / vocals (tracks 3, 7, 8)
- Nate Newton / vocals (track 8)
- Dwid Hellion / vocals (track 6)
- Jan Oberg / vocals (track 6)
- Caleb Scofield / vocals (track 3)
- Kevin Spacey / passage (track 4, audio from The Life of David Gale)

Innit right?!?

So really, how am I to review this blend of death metal, hardcore, doom, jazz, prog, electronic, sludge and whatever else slab of music you can think of?  I tell you, no man can do it justice.

The best that I can do is choose a couple of songs in order to exemplify the sound (that I would have done anyway) and from that let you be the judges. 

Just a fair warning, the first disc holds the hardcore moment of the album, while the actual goodies start with Siderian.  I also won’t be giving any rating here, because I’m afraid that I could not go with anything less than 10.

L.E: I seem to have forgotten the tracklist, so let come another wall of text for you:

• Hadean/Archadean
• 01. Hadean – The Long March of the Yes-Men
• 02. Eoarchean – The Great Void
• 03. Palaeoarchaen – Man and the Sea
• 04. Mesoarchaean – Legions of Winged Octopi
• 05. Neoarchaean – To Burn the Duck of Doubt
• Protorezoic
• 01. Siderian
• 02. Rhyacian – Untimely Meditations
• 03. Orosirian – For the Great Blue Cold Now Reigns
• 04. Statherian
• 05. Calymmian – Lake Disappointment
• 06. Ecstasian – De Profundis
• 07. Stenian – Mount Sorrow
• 08. Tonian – Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
• 09. Cryogenian