City Of Glass

Oceanic

I must admit, I really missed to review an Israeli album. With all the respect […]
By Matan "Shouter" Yaniv
December 9, 2014
Oceanic - City Of Glass album cover

I must admit, I really missed to review an Israeli album. With all the respect to America's Metalcore wave, the Alternative scene in the Britain area or to Greece's Death entourage, there is no place like home. And speaking of which, OCEANIC is a band that it's not very rare to come across them in this country. The band has grown and grown over the years and with it they also raised a great base of a great crowd who is ready to follow them. They formed in 2009 in Tel Aviv as an Alternative Progressive Metal band. They entered the studio, lately, with the legendry guitarist, Yossi Sassi to record their coated debut album.

With no intro or any bullshit, the album opened directly with "A Scanner Darkly". The good things in this song are his very dark atmosphere and his stressful tempo, along with his very deep lyrics. But the problem in the song is that he's start, with how much that she is great, continue for almost 5 minutes, not changing, just a start. There are a few changes but they are small, very small, and only at the end we can see that the song really is continue, but then the song is over. But, still the song success to enter us the world that OCEANIC created in the album.

But "Wind Up in a Barrel (Tribute to Walter)" is making out for it's previous. Compared to the previous, it's a song that coming to a lot of places and not boring for a minutes, partly thanks to the song's amazing riff. The band is not afraid to combine a lot of ways and a lot of musical genres in the song and they are not afraid to cause some chaos.

There is no doubt, OCEANIC are talented, and they are know what they are doing. Maybe because it's really a good song and maybe because I just liked the Influence of the best band in the genre, DREAM THEATER, but "South Of Heaven" is definitely my favorite song in the album. The song is more old schools' Progressive and got a clear focus on the chorus that makes it to the greatest chorus and song in this album.

"Enter" is much heavier and following the genius wave of the previous two songs, only that despite them that were more old-school, this one is more fun and heavy. "Clouds" is some kind of dark punk song with a touch of the unforgettable Progressive. And that was something that I personally find very strange but also great at the same time. It's a song that reminds us how OCEANIC is a band that not fears to do a lot of things at once.

"These Countless Hours" is a little falling in the album. OCEANIC still doing some good riffs but the problem of the song is that its instruments and vocals are not matching. The song itself is okay and maybe there will be some people that it does not bother them, but to me personally it was.

"HMS Beagle" is the most sophisticated in the album and one of the highlights in the album. It's not necessarily a song that curving easily, it's a song that you need at least second hearing or more for it if you want to truly like it. It's a song that touching in a lot of genres and for a few seconds touching Heavy Metal, Hard Rock and even Mediterranean music (a genre that is very popular in Israel if didn't knew).

But seriously, why to ruing with "Eva The Cat Dosent Sleep"? It's not just the weakest song in the album, it's a song that so much unnecessary to the album. It's maybe a nice song for some b-side or some EP, but surly not for a debut album.

In the bottom line, I said it before and I will say it again, OCEANIC is absolutely a talented band and extremely brave people. A band that with some invest have a very promising future. They are not afraid to combine between lots of genres or to write tribute songs about movies and series. But mainly, again as said, they are not afraid to cause some serious chaos.<

9 / 10

Almost Perfect

"City Of Glass" Track-listing:

1. A Scanner Darkly
2. Wind Up In Barrel (Tribute To Walter)
3. South Of Heaven
4. Enter
5. Clouds
6. Fish You Shouldn't Eat (Part 1)
7. These Countless Hours
8. HMS Beagle
9. Eva The Cat Doesn't sleep
10. Oceanic

Oceanic Lineup:

Idan Liberman - Vocals, Guitar
Gal Shochet - Drums
Or Lubianiker - Bass
Amir Manbar - Guitar

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