aaamusic | On 23, Nov 2010

Hailing from Yorkshire where they “dominate the local hardcore scene”, The Ocean Between Us are a hot-blooded young guitar mob who are chasing hot on the heels of bands such as The Blackout and InMe with their metalcore thrashings. The press release for their impending EP comes with two tracks to whet the press’ appetites, or perhaps their hunting knives…

‘And Our Names Were Written In Water’ is a seething track, where clean vocals overlap snarls in the typical metalcore manner, although that said, The Ocean Between Us do manage to handle the jarring contrast better than many contemporaries, and the blinding momentum of the verses is chopped and changed satisfyingly with syncopations and lurches. There are death-metal-chords crunches in the bridges that are interwoven with soaring pop-punk offcuts and melodic wails, fringed by some technically great metal drumming, the bass pounded machine-gun style and yet it incorporates plenty of variation to keep the listener hooked. The lyrics are suitably angsty but with a degree of measured intelligence, however the processed-sounding clean vocals feel sterile at times, and to be honest, much of the playing feels like a finesse-filled rendition of “insert genre here by numbers”.

Track number 4 on the EP and 2 on the sampler is ‘What Do You Stand For?’ and this is a blinder of epic proportions, starting with a mesmeric tapped guitar solo and stadium-sized drums, which just about sums up the track. Between melodic choruses, gang vocals, rapidfire drum blasts, abrasive demonic snarls vs human singing and shouting, grinding chords, sub-sonic bass and a real sense of having arrived, this is a mad pop-punk/post-hardcore outburst that more than anything sounds like deathcore as played by early Muse. There’s a real sense of grandeur, but pretense is buried beneath layers of well-played instrumentation. The Ocean Between Us don’t produce a song here so much as a sonic chimera, and given their kaleidoscopic approach to their style, this works well, and best of all they are much more willing to blend sounds and experiment, and this pays off in full.

I’m not sure how well a post-hardcore Muse will go down in terms of mass appeal, and The Ocean Between Us aren’t without wobbles. For the epic scale and truly enjoyable twists and turns to be devoured in the explosive ‘What Do You Stand For?’ there seems to be the usual scene pitfalls such as overprocessed vocals and cliché sub-metal musicianship in ‘And Our Names Were Written In Water’. But they are a clearly passionate young group who not only have their hearts set on standing out in the genre, but even redefining it. And if they play their cards right, I am confident that they could prove to be a formidable pillar and indeed shaper of a still-developing scene.

Author: Katie H-Halinski