"There's no ambiguity: if venus shows all phases like the moon the earth must revolve 'round the sun but noone will believe me: it's like nothing, like nothing I've seen was for real..."

THE OCEAN - "HELIOCENTRIC"
("Metalblade Records"; CD):

At first that's some pretty interesting and also really demanding album by a band that was totally unknown to me and that have some (at first) very intellectual approach when it comes to their music and their lyrics, but this 'at first' stuff really change with 'at second' and more will come throughout this review for you. I (more or less) 'accidentially' got this CD when I saw it standing on the shelf of the local "MediaMarkt" store and saw (also this one here) for a extra low special bonus price of something around 2,50 Euro or something around like this. My eyes were caught by the great and interesting artwork (really some 'special' stuff) with the cool 'astrological gimmick' on the frontcover and all the 'tarot cards' inside on that the lyrics are printed, and all the motifs and so on and on, yes, it just caught my eyes right from the start. The album kicks off with the atmospheric intro track "SHAMAYIM", that's also coming with some 'nice' distorting moments and that completly flows into the first song "FIRMAMENT" that starts off with a pretty 'tricky' rhythm architecture and features quite a pretty impressive amount of several different styles and also rhythms and structures melted together into one song. And that's also exactly the case when we take a good listen to the complete full length album. From Metalcore to Gothic Pop and Alternative Rock, as well as (a lot of) Metal and (even a little bit more) Progressive (Rock) and also some Ambient we do really find a lot of several different stuff here on this one compiled together in all in all ten songs and in a complete running time of something around 50 minutes or so. We find a lot of different elements of the different styles melted together and cultivated by some intense atmosphere that's especially created by some very impressive piano and also violin work. Beside that we get pretty rich on variations lead vocals, damn well-versed guitar work (that covers an impressive range of different 'playing-styles'), and a really very strong and diverse rhythm section that's precise here at work. The technical skills of the musicians are truly damn high and the songwriting is often some nicely demanding stuff, no doubt about it... BUT: This record is all in all simply too lame and gammy and it's all too strongly suffering, sometimes your ears start to bleed while you listen to it because of too much stupid pathos and a too much 'off-ticking' suffer(ing)mentality that really sucks impressively strong. Also the songwriting is just too braked, even the (anyhow very few) parts that are meant to go on forward and ahead are really nothing but blocking any real motion. The guys know how to play and they can also write songs, but they can't deal with or vary mood, pace, and structure of the songs enough to keep your interest in this album over the distance of it. It gets damn quick boring, point and fact (desoise all the technical skills of the musicians). The lyrics are some nice metaphysical stuff, even they're anyhow quite a bit some sort of some 'pseudo-intellectual' affair. This is, beside some really interesting marks (musically as well as lyrically), music for guys that think they find the key to ultimate wisdon in glass of red vine while they debate the effects of the sun on the love life of your common urban cobbles in May, if ya know what I mean, and so it's nothing for me after all. The production sound is really great and the artwork just pure gold. Okay, if ya ask me this here left a lot of its potential open and unused, what's always a pity (also here, too), and it's also really nothing that you maybe need to have anyhow, point and fact. For nerds in some 'strange alternative and also progressive' Metal/Rock with parts of Gothic in it this is maybe some 'duty-affair' as well as for above described target audience, but everyone else should (if some interest should be there) at least take a listen to this back then in 2009 (primarly) released album. (5 of 10 points)

(http://www.theoceancollective.com/)