Review : THE OCEAN – “Heliocentric”

The Ocean – Heliocentric
released April 13, 2010 on Metal Blade Records

Rating : 3/5

I have every reason to enjoy Heliocentric, based on past experience. Though their last album, Precambrian, predates my rating system, in retrospect it deserves a 4.5/5. Arriving in late 2007, it was an easy addition to my year-end favorites list. Couple that with a fun, illuminating interview with mainman Robin Staps and you’ve got a critic that will sing their praises for the next couple of years. I have rarely changed opinion so dramatically, in the span of a single album.

By far and away, the most drastic and divisive change lies with new vocalist Loic Rossetti. More often than not, the man strives for a nasaly croon akin to Greg Puciato (Dillinger Escape Plan) or Tommy Rogers (Between The Buried And Me). He fails repeatedly. Listen how off-key he is on “The First Commandment of the Luminaries” or his strained cracks on “Catharsis of a Heretic”. Moreover, Heliocentric is vocalcentric. A marked shift from their sprawling tectonic majesty punctuated by scarcely-discriminate hardcore barks. You now hear Rossetti first and foremost, where before, one could follow along with The Ocean‘s immersive lyrics and succumb to their enveloping music. And the completely low-key tracks like “Ptolemy Was Wrong” and “Epiphany” should just be avoided altogether. They are uninteresting, with or without context.

I love the concept of Heliocentric: analyzing humanity’s ancient belief that the sun is the center of the universe. And in keeping tradition with past releases, a companion album is set for release in late 2010 entitled Anthropocentric, which is said to challenge geocentrism. With evolution as a key theme throughout The Ocean‘s history, I just hope this album worked through their “awkward” stage.

FCC OK
Try 2, 5, 7, 9

01. Shamayim
02. Firmament
03. The First Commandment of the Luminaries
04. Ptolemy Was Wrong
05. Metaphysics of the Hangman
06. Catharsis of a Heretic
07. Swallowed by the Earth
08. Epiphany
09. The Origin of Species
10. The Origin of God