Gardens, tombs, strange eerie galactic soundscapes. Disturbing visions come to mind once you read the title of this here new record of …And Oceans. The album art doesn’t really alleviate that feeling of impending doom either with dead souls seemingly trying to avoid the dark embrace of Old Nick1 and escape into the light. Some cosmically-challenged, mysticized Christian theme on an album cover in greys, blues, and gold. Or is it?
I guess we’ll never know. Because the lyrics on As in Gardens, So in Tombs are undecipherable. And I am sure they’re very elaborate, as is paradoxically often the case in metal works. But it’s not the quality of the spoken word or the lack thereof that’s made the RMR review committee’s weary heads turn in alarm. It is indeed a pretty snazzy brand of good ol’ Melodic Black Metal. A style that many attempted, but few really master.
The band has been around the Extreme Metal block a few times. A pretty tumultuous curriculum with a few severe cases of identity crises. In fact, they started under the …And Oceans moniker back in 1995 and went on a giant hiatus in 2005. And no doubt, the band’s confused case of misguided harsh electronica in a pseudo-metal disguise on Cypher didn’t really help with continued success.2 So, off they went into the dark embrace of a lengthy break.
Their other incarnations sported a variety of styles, such as Death Metal and some more industrial-tainted brands of miscellaneous alloy (Festerday,3 Havoc Unit). The band re-started activities back in 2017 and finally released a new album called Cosmic World Mother in 2020.4
So, not without trepidation, the reviewers @ RMR expected more of the same Cypher-esque shenanigans with more extreme electronics others already shipwrecked on. Instead, As in Gardens, So in Tombs dispenses real Extreme Metal with a vicious bite. The record fades in and out of Black Metal proper and its melodic brethren. Subtle electronica and a few discrete industrial elements will still appear. But those artfully sync with the melodic parts and won’t gripe anymore. More to that later.
The album comes across as somewhat less powerful than Seth, for example. But the record fully compensates with keyboard-heavy forays that – at times – waltz a bit too far into the far outer reaches of Metal o’ The Light. Yet again, their undeniable knack to mix melodic parts with almost devilish raids into the Lightbringer’s Black Metal pit will get you a cocktail that definitely will find fans on all sides of the metalhead fan aisles.
But – As in Gardens, So in Tombs doesn’t only sport Melodic Black Metal on steroids. You’ll also find excursions into other realms. Like – for example – a hefty thrash note that suddenly appears on Cloud Heads. And – in fact – the old style of the early ’00s still raises its ugly head from time to time. Yet again, in a much artsier way and form, as some parts of Likt Törnen Genom Kött can certainly attest.5 Within Fire and Crystal sports an almost perfect fit of melodic metallics and meaty, hardened Black Metal. The RMR crew truly marveled at the effortless switch from one sub-style to the other with pretty astonishing breaks in between.
In a way, As in Gardens, So in Tombs is the surprise of early 2023. The record delivers some trve blackened debauchery. And this comes with some really potent zest and their very own brand of Melodic Black Metal that’s sometimes harsh and often playful to an extent. A style that might very well appeal to hardened metalheads and metallic newbies alike. …And Oceans pulled out all the stops this time and truly got us some evil extremes that we indeed didn’t quite expect to see like that from this particular band.
So, old opinions were positively corrected after all these years. That’s one red-hot and tasty record. You should get some, too.
Ed’s note: Fancy a less flamboyant style? Try some Frozen Dawn instead. Or simply check another of this band’s concoctions.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: Season of Mist | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 27 January 2023
- The Odd Footnote!
- Who’s that? The devil. Horned and feisty as always.-↩
- Need more? Check out Allmusic’s telling take on this piece.-↩
- For some members of …And Oceans, at least. Stories vary and there’s a lot of myth baked into this particular metal cake. So, we kinda take the 5th on that one, difficult to verify what’s true and what not.-↩
- And we missed that one. Well, perhaps that’d be one for later.-↩
- A clean cut from the past would have been better, though. Just sayin’. -Ed.-↩