Since their debut album in 2015, Oceans Ate Alaska have been consistently grinding away to make space in the overpopulated Metalcore genre to make sure there’s room for themselves in it by touring with everyone they got the chance to since the release of their previous album in 2017. After 5 long years of waiting, OAA’s third album Disparity is finally here.
Starting the album, listeners are treated to Paradigm, a chunky, bouncy Metalcore banger that calls out the horrific levels of systematic oppression the world still suffers through all while being horrifically and poetically brutal in its instrumentals. This carries on into one of the album’s three singles Nova, which features some utterly chaotic rhythm, ridiculous levels of dissonance and a great vocal hook that’s just the cherry on the cake with track 3, Metamorph following an incredibly similar structure and style.
Shallow Grave follows on and shows just how ridiculously talented the band is, thanks to the masterful mix of Chon-esc guitar and bass work and a Djent fuelled breakdown. Sol brings in a surprising element of Lo-Fi within its background that makes an ethereal backing to an otherwise brutal track that feels the most, Modern Metalcore of the album. Dead Behind The Eyes keeps a similar structure but swaps out the Lo-Fi for pure brutality and Plague Speech is just borderline Deathcore meets TesseracT.
Just so I don’t lose the attention of the readers, the last track I want to speak about is the 1-minute 48-second-long onslaught of riffs that is New Dawn which is basically just a breakdown from start to finish that encapsulates the anger and Nihilism that modern life breeds. OAA could quickly become a slim core band and this is the proof.
Disparity is an incredibly strong release that manages to somehow sound completely fresh thanks to the use of Lo-Fi across the release as background soundscapes to add elements of softness to the otherwise brutal and unending heaviness of the release. This is incredibly fitting due to the album’s magnified inspection of modern life and struggles, and it finds something soft and calming within an otherwise oppressive sound. An utterly phenomenal release that shows the sheer talent of Oceans Ate Alaska
Review: Dan Stapleton
OCEANS ATE ALASKA – DISPARITY IS OUT SEPTEMBER 1 ON FEARLESS RECORDS
Pre-order it here.
DISPARITY TRACK LISTING:
“Paradigm”
“Nova”
“Metamorph”
“Shallow Graves”
“Sol”
“Empty Space”
“Plague Speech”
“Disparity”
“Dead Behind The Eyes”
“New Dawn”
“Hallucinogen”
Birmingham, UK metal quintet OCEANS ATE ALASKA — James Harrison [vocals], Chris Turner [drums], James “Jibs” Kennedy [guitar], Adam Zytkiewicz [guitar], and Mike Stanton [bass]
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