Saturday, June 19, 2010

Album: Ocean - "Pantheon Of The Lesser"

This one might require a bit of patience at first, but it's infinitely rewarding. These two songs (which fall just under an hour total) display some of the finest (very minimalist) doom you'll ever come across. Things start off at the pace of a snail with a riff being played so sparsely that it almost just feels like a bunch of single notes. After a while things quiet right down and start to really build into something which you just know is going to be fucking immense. And oh god, is it ever. If for some reason that first climax wasn't enough for you, things quiet down again afterwards as the rise and fall begins once more, this time with guest vocals from Yoshiko Ohara of Bloody Panda which actually end up being one of the more throat-shredding, heartbreaking performances I can think of. That said, Ocean's vocalist displays some really great and powerful ranges as well throughout the album. And all that is just the first song! Of The Lesser builds into an equally(if not more) satisfying (HEAVY!!!) dirge which will leave you emotionally exhausted as it plods along.

In short, there's some incredible compositional dynamics going on, and even though the focus is on a very stripped down and minimal atmosphere, the pay-off is just as huge and rewarding as the most monolithic, crushing (insert other doom cliches here) riffs you can think of. It's as bare, as organic, as brutally heavy of an expression as you could hope for. I cannot reccomend this enough.

Tracklist:
1. The Beacon
2. Of The Lesser

DL: "Pantheon Of The Lesser"

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