Review:
When I found out that Lambgoat had some sort of beef with this band, I immediately started to formulate my review in my head without ever hearing a single note. I was fully prepared to give this album the best review I've ever given any record just to piss off that website. But instead I took a more professional route and decided to actually listen to the record I was about to dub the "Greatest Album Of Our Generation". Although I actually expected to hear something I was absolutely going to hate, I oddly found myself to enjoy this album.
The sticker on the packaging said "For Fans of Norma Jean and The Deftones". Odd combination of bands that didn't seem to make much sense to mix together, but those bands only serve as elemental influences for Oceana's overall sound. Oceana takes some of the modern metalcore from Norma Jean and mixing it with the ambience that the newer Deftones albums have perfected and then wrap it up with a strong backbone of post-hardcore that isn't too far removed from bands like Far or even something newer like Thursday. This album was quite refreshing to hear in light of the normal filth I get the pleasure of reviewing all the time.
Being impressed with this album and never hearing them prior to this, I decided to look into other material by the band. It seems that this is their 2nd release and their final album. That's a shame for this band because I think all they would have needed to do was get on one big tour and they would have exploded. The bands first release, The Tide, however is much different than this record. The melodic ambience isn't as prominent and the vocals are limited to only screaming. I think what makes Birth.Eater a great record is the use of the clean vocals. I'm normally not one for a mix between screaming and singing but for a strange reason, this album doesn't bother me. I do think the record could have benefited greatly had vocalist Brennan Taulbee opted to just sing instead of scream. The best songs on the record involve no screaming at all.
Now venturing away from the music itself is where the band may start to lose any momentum they were building. It never occurred to me while reading the song titles and the album title itself that this album was about abortion. Since abortions are touchy subject, depending on your stance on the subject, you may not be interested in listening to this album ever. I, for one, am Pro-Choice and believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion on the subject. So hearing a full record that is against abortion didn't offend me in the least. I also don't think the lyrics were meant to be an attack on everyone that doesn't oppose abortions either. I believe the band just wanted to present their feelings on the issue through their music. Their lyrics are presented in a tasteful manner and go hand in hand with the dark moody atmosphere the music creates.
Was this the greatest album of our generation? Absolutely not, but it was still a pretty solid release that I'm sure will make it into my stereo pretty frequently. Their style is something that is out of the ordinary for me to like but this record caught me so off guard. If you want a good sample of this record, I believe their MySpace actually has the best song on the album available called "The Family Disease". I suggest checking that out. I hope Lambgoat stumbles across this review and it causes pain in their stomachs. They'll probably wish death on me and Chris but that is kind of the effect I was going for.
Update: Turns out this is not the band that Lambgoat has a feud with. Nonetheless this record is still pretty solid.
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