The Ocean (also referred to as The Ocean Collective) is a band that connects several musical styles in the same way that the huge body of water of the same name connects places; the current takes you from one place to another, sometimes cruising easily through calm water and sometimes making you fight against the chaotic force of the devastating waves.

Well, their previous album, fluXion, supposedly covered the “lighter” sound of the band, but this new one is the chaotic and crushing side of The Ocean.

Aeolian is a mixture of all things violent and aggressive; from heavy and thick walls of sound that remind me of many of the big names in Sludge and similar genres (ISIS, Neurosis) to Meshuggah-inspired stop and go Metalcore rhythms (although not nearly as complex as the Swedish master’s). And while these two aspects compose Aeolian’s main structure, we all know oceans happen to be unpredictable when it comes to changes in intensity, not to mention frequent “mood shifts”, and this one is no exception. Throwing sudden outbursts of energy in the form of The Dillinger Escape Plan’s violent and seemingly randomly executed explosions, as well as implementing some changes from epic momentum to calm relaxation, The Ocean portray excellent musicianship and elaborate songwriting.

The band also makes use of several vocalist, 6 to be exact, which provide all of the imaginable variations of violent screaming, from deep growls to insane shrieks. It may sound pretentious (and maybe it is), but I in a practical sense this makes the vocals a lot more enjoyable, and the album more fun to listen to. Now, if only they had used clean vocals as well.

As one might imagine, the band’s music can be quite chaotic at times, and it is, but not only for the sake of it. The Ocean manage to make all the chaos feel very natural and obvious (if that’s possible). Maybe people that feel that bands like Between the Buried and Me are caught in senseless musical drivel might find a better executed, less random and more focused execution of musical ADD in Aeolian (focused ADD might sound like an oxymoron, but I can’t think of another description).

The Ocean present us with a fresh point of view to some genres that are becoming quite stale (such as Metalcore), by using them in a fresh way, reminding us that there’s always room to evolve, and that expanding musical boundaries is still possible to date. So yes, that’s pretty good. On the other hand, some sections of the album can sound very much similar to others, and if you combine that with the somewhat extensive length of Aeolian, it can become a bit tedious for one sitting. But apart from that, The Ocean is a band that presents enough innovative ideas to be separated from the bunch, and I can really see them coming even stronger in the future. I’ll be waiting for greatness, then.