Since issuing Aeolian in 2005, Berlin's continually evolving extreme music collective the Ocean have created conceptual recordings that reflect the evolutionary, violent character of nature itself with a musical signature that combines progressive, sludge, hardcore, and atmospheric post-metal. Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic is the first of two releases -- the second is forthcoming in 2020. After 2013's glorious Pelagial, which charted the savage and harmonious life of the sea, Phanerozoic I returns the focus to solid ground; it ...
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Since issuing Aeolian in 2005, Berlin's continually evolving extreme music collective the Ocean have created conceptual recordings that reflect the evolutionary, violent character of nature itself with a musical signature that combines progressive, sludge, hardcore, and atmospheric post-metal. Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic is the first of two releases -- the second is forthcoming in 2020. After 2013's glorious Pelagial, which charted the savage and harmonious life of the sea, Phanerozoic I returns the focus to solid ground; it is the proper sequential sequel to 2007's Precambrian and the missing link between it and 2010's Heliocentric/Anthropocentric. The Phanerozoic eon succeeded the Precambrian supereon, spanning a 500-million-year period leading to the present epoch; it has witnessed the evolution and diversification of plant and animal life on earth, and its partial destruction through five mass extinction events. Each track here is related to a specific period within the eon, from Cambrian through Permian. Chief composer/guitarist Robin Staps equates this evolution with the Nietzschean philosophical idea of eternal return: Everything happens over and over, an infinite number of times throughout infinite time and space. (Buddhists and Hindus subscribed to this same notion, thousands of years previously.) The music's chameleonic traits juxtapose languid, often beautiful and dreadful harmonic invention with brutal heaviness and aggression (sometimes simultaneously). While the brief set-opener "The Cambrian Explosion" offers a nocturnal, brooding Kraftwerk-ian theme (i.e., "The Model") that contrasts synths, piano, and strings with effects, it explodes two minutes later into the bone-jarring, prog metal epic "Cambrian II: Eternal Recurrence," with crusty tom-toms and snares, overdriven distortion and Loic Rossetti's alternately screamed and clean vocals amid detuned riffs. "Ordovicium: The Glaciation of Gondwana" commences with a grooving vamp as instruments support dirty vocals in an urgent rush of energy. A doomy, atmospheric instrumental section acts as a theme to note episodic tension before arresting guitar chords and shard-like notes redirect the listener's attention. Jonas Renkse of Katatonia lends his clean vocals to the melodically astute first half of the 11-minute "Devonian - Nascent." Introduced by strings, analog synths, and piano, the tune's drama doesn't begin to assert itself until nearly three minutes in as thudding kick drums and rolling tribal tom-toms pick up the pace to reach its first crescendo. It gathers force in alternating dynamic waves. A massive guitar and bass riff introduces Rossetti's screaming above the lurching mix. Closer "Permian: The Great Dying" charges out of the gate with Rossetti screaming and growling atop a clean a vocal chorus that ultimately urges him into clean singing. Popping snares, detuned bass, and analog synths color the middle before it explodes menacingly before it ends abruptly, creating an introduction for its forthcoming companion. While Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic continues some of the genre traits and strategies of Pelagial, it's musically more akin to the progressive metal feel of Precambrian, issued more than a decade earlier, yet expanding the Ocean's creative palette forward into a new sonic aesthetic. Sure, Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic is a new high-water mark for the Ocean, and for extreme music in general. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi
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Add this copy of Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic to cart. $54.25, new condition, Sold by Entertainment by Post - UK rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from BRISTOL, SOUTH GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2018 by Metal Blade.
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