German progressive metal collective, The Ocean, have a near flawless discography. Other than the Dillinger Escape Plan and Death, it’s hard to think of any other artists in heavy music that are so consistent yet unafraid of taking risks. Led by visionary songwriter, Robin Staps, the group release their tenth album as a concluding chapter to a tetralogy of records that started with 2007’s Precambrian and continued on 2018’s Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic and 2020’s Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic. Indeed, Scream Blast Repeat said of the latter that its ‘greatest strength is its rich variety of sounds,’ and ‘at no point does the listening experience diminish.’ But even some of the most open-minded fans might raise an eyebrow when they hear Holocene. Out go Tool and Neurosis and in come Depeche Mode and Massive Attack. Should we be worried by this new direction?
The big change here is the retooling of the song-writing process. Unlike all other albums, the songs on Holocene started as ideas created by the group’s synthesiser guru, Peter Voigtmann. Robin Staps is on record saying how much he enjoyed the challenge of turning the synth compositions into songs befitting of The Ocean’s progressive and post-metal heritage. You can tell he engaged with Voightmann’s careful mix of atonality and minimalist melody on opener, ‘Preboreal’, which takes the narcissistic and shallow social media age as the target of its ire and laments how the advanced world has become an echo chamber of groupthink. It’s a concern we’ve heard many times since the fall of the Berlin Wall, but Loïc Rossetti’s distinctive voice transmits the message with rhythmic precision. Dark drone notes sway in the background as hi-fi drums and mid-register synth sequences keep the lights on. You think they’ll step on the distortion pedal for the follow-up, ‘Boreal’, but this composition prowls from the sidelines like Depeche Mode’s Sounds of the Universe album from 2009. The brief eruption of sludge metal at the half-way point seems reluctant to break out into anything beyond doom chords.
Think again if you expect this record to be a continuation of Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic. ‘Sea of Reeds’ gives you time to ruminate and absorb the emotions of the synth arpeggios and subtle saxophone notes. It’d be more enjoyable from a new band rather than an influential artist with high pedigree. Yet it also allows you to get inside the mind of its creator. Like Playgrounded and VOLA, you can see the CuBase dashboard in front of you as the anguished sound pitches and latent melodies control you like a muscle relaxant. The person who benefits the most from this spacious audio domain is Loïc Rossetti. His voice teeters on the brink of a reggae phonation and retains the breath control of a trip-hop wordsmith, yet his projection is manful and confident in its rhythmic delivery. It’s almost as if he can find his time points with an imaginary click track. Seldom do you hear a metal album composed from vapourless synthesisers and vocal lines that provide the hooks rather than the final piece of the jigsaw.
Massive Attack might be more prominent than Mastodon, but Holocene has its heavy moments when not entangled in an existential maze created by the inner self. ‘Subboreal’ starts like a Portishead introversion but explodes in a post-metal climax befitting of Cult of Luna. Closing track, ‘Subatlantic’, is the nearest thing to a cliché with its Arabic-infused vocal wailing employed to fill the gaps in the simple dichotomy of quiet-loud dynamics. It’s predictable, but it hits the spot because the band starve you of the guitar and vocal aggression synonymous with their back catalogue for much of this album. That’s not to say the material in its place is inferior. A guest appearance from Scandinavian pop artist, Karin Park, adds a damaged angelic presence to ‘Unconformities’, like Tori Amos and Emma Ruth Rundle collaborating on a Björk outtake. If only Rossetti didn’t spoil the second half with a monotonous chant of “Don’t turn on the bright lights,” for three minutes of manic repetition.
We called The Ocean’s last album ‘a scintillating journey that gets better with each listen.’ Holocene is scintillating in its own way, but does it improve with each listen? The answer is yes, but you must be patient.
JVB
Verdict
Release Date: 19/05/2023
Record Label: Pelagic Records
Standout tracks: Atlantic, Subboreal, Subatlantic
Suggested Further Listening: VOLA – Witness (2021), Depeche Mode – Sounds of the Universe (2009), Playgrounded – The Death of Death (2022)