Album Review: Oceano - 'Depths'

Not to be confused with Oceana, Oceano is a Deathcore band hailing from Chicago, USA.  According to their Myspace they are the angriest and heaviest band on the planet.  With the Acacia Strain only getting bigger and better it’s reasonably safe to say that this is a very bold statement from a young band.  However, being the latest signing to the much respected and established metal label Earache records (Home of the mighty The Haunted and Cult of Luna) I gave them more of a chance then their biography on Myspace should have warranted.

With the release of Depths, their debut full length, Oceano have been labeled a band to watch in the extreme metal scene (according to Last.fm anyway).  Considering the amount of bands currently circulating in this already bulging genre my expectations were fairly minimal.  The recording is on par, the vocals are super heavy and the guitar work is exceptional, but there is nothing new that would allow them to stand out.
 
“Inhuman Affliction” opens Depths and I thought immediately to myself “So this is what would happen if the Acacia Strain covered Unanswered by Suicide Silence” The eerie bits are also present which seem to becoming the latest trend i.e. Impending Doom.  “A mandatory Sacrifice” works much the same as it predecessor focusing on being slow, heavy breakdowns followed by triple picking runs.  

“Fractured Frames, Scattered Flesh” offers a small respite from a reasonably textbook release with groovy sections being prevalent and slow open strokes being kept in the box.  “Depths” is the only melodic escape offered on this release and fits in quite well with the rest of the album despite the lack of vocals.  The rest of the album follows suite with an honorable mention going to the first single of Depths titled “District of Misery”. One can only imagine just home many bass bomb moments could appear live in this little number.

While a reasonable release in its own right, Depths is a release you can probably live without.

1.   Descent

2.   Inhuman Affliction

3.   A Mandatory Sacrifice

4.   Samael the Destroyer

5.   Fractured Frames, Scattered Flesh

6.   Disgust for Your Kind

7.   Depths

8.   District Of Misery

9.   With Legions

10.  Slaughtered Like Swine

11.  Empathy for Leviathan

12.  Plague Campaign

13.  Abysm