Oceans of slumber, Winter

Oceans of Slumber were already a promising band with their debut album Aetherial, but when they uploaded the videos with their new singer, Cammie Gilbert, I simply fell in love (and had the Candlemass cover on repeat for a few days). It was a bold and unusual decision to change their male lead singer with a female one, but I think they made an excellent choice, since Cammie is fantastic. Her voice is deep, soulful, sensual and full of personality and versatility. Also, she saves puppies in her free time (truly, she’s a volunteer for a wildlife protection center and since I have a soft spot for people who love animals, it makes me appreciate her even more).

Now back to their new release. I originally wanted to make a regular review for it, since I had so many track-by-track reviews lately, but seeing how different the songs are, I figured it would be a shame not to say a few words about each one. So, let’s start with Winter, a great choice for promoting the album as the title track and first single, seeing how it showcases perfectly the strong points of their new singer. It’s moody, it’s melancholic and it seems like bringing on Cammie wasn’t the only bold change this album would present, as Winter is less progressive and more doom and death metal oriented. There are quite a few abrupt changes of style and atmosphere on the course of the song, but somehow it doesn’t seem contrived and fragmented.

Devout goes even further with the gender mixing, starting off very doomy, going into extreme metal territory with a weird, dissonant and agitating vibe and then turning to a mellow bridge straight out of the Opeth textbook.

I’m generally not a fan of covers, the occasions where you take a good song and turn it into something just as good or even better are rare. Even rarer if you try to make massive changes, but this Nights in white satin reinterpretation is one of those occasions. I’m not entirely sure if placing it in the middle of the album was the best decision, but it seems to me they don’t really like neat and organised layouts, so I’m starting to wonder if it wasn’t done on purpose to raise some eyebrows. Maybe I’m reading too much into it...

Lullaby is a very short track, more like an interlude, but somehow it holds its own and for me it was one of the most memorable pieces of the album.

After getting to hear a softer and more delicate side of Cammie in Lullaby, Laid to rest showed that the guys in the band can be gentle too, with a pretty acoustic guitar respite.

Suffer the last bridge is another intriguing song, with catchy verses that morph into a heavy chorus with several other tones and moods in between. You can say whatever you want about them, but they certainly don’t settle for recipes and beaten roads. It’s the sixth track and with the exception of maybe the first two ones, neither sounds like the other.

I feel like their teasing me, as the flute-centered instrumental with a shamanic vibe Good life follows and I’m anxious for actual songs, not just interludes.

My wish is granted immediately with Sunlight, a darker alternative rock track that reminds me of a less angsty Evanescence (maybe it’s the tourniquet reference), except Cammie’s voice is about ten thousand times better and more versatile. Is there anything this woman can’t do/sing?

Turpentine is mellow, melodic, full of emotion and with a touch of… bossa nova? Because everyone expected the tamest bluesy ballad to end with a bossa nova guitar, right? And it doesn’t even sound awkward, I have no idea how they turn to the unexpected so quickly and it doesn’t bother the ear.

The most aggressive song of the album and one of my personal favourites is Apologue. With an interesting mix between Cammie’s guttural, cold and almost disgusted voice and all sorts of grunt types from all sorts of extreme metal genres and an even more interesting mix between the death metal fast-paced drumming and slow doom blows, Apologue is all over the place in a way, and sounds cohesive in another way. I don’t quite know what to make of it, but it’s very very captivating.

With How tall the trees I reach a point where I start wondering about all the interludes. They can have a nice place in concept albums or in more tightly knit albums, but I can’t really find their purpose here.

The beginning of …This road reminds me again of Evanescence, this time even in terms of vocals, but then Cammie’s voice explodes into a pouring of angst and the instrumental quickly follows in the purest display of a prog guitar solo and then of course it moves back and forth between doom, progressive and alternative before fading out and ending this gripping album.

The fact is you can’t really put a label on this album and it’s part of the reasons I love it, I love to be challenged and surprised and they do it very well. Although most reviews criticise it exactly for this lack of decisiveness regarding what they want to be, it’s something that I personally appreciate a lot. What can I say, I love weirdness and here it’s definitely executed well. Even though the songs don’t exactly fit together, they’re all very good and maybe I have a short attention span, but I get bored of listening to the same type of song 10-12 times on the course of one album, so I prefer this type of eclectic album.