Oceano‘s comeback is scheduled for 2024.
After a seven-year wait, Adam Warren (vocals, Unwrthy), Scott Smith (guitar) and Chris Wagner (bass), accompanied by Alex Nourse (drums) and Evan Gillen (bass) live, present Living Chaos, their sixth album.
Wasted Life may start off relatively quietly, but it’s already a worrying track, quickly joined by massive riffs and screams, as well as a heady hint of dissonance on certain parts. The track ends in anguish, and Mass Produced takes over with an unexpected gentleness, which is of course shattered by a jerky, aggressive rhythm reminiscent of the basics of Deathcore, while offering extremely fluid leads, before the devastating final. The same recipe applies to Darkness Rising, which begins with a certain lightness before hitting us with full force, including more soothing moments on the choruses to temper the violence, or that majestic break, then we stay in the darkness for Into The Flames’ convulsive assaults, barely contrasted by a few harmonics and keyboards in the background. The moshpart will have everyone agreeing live, then it’s with Wounds Never Healed that the band will get our skulls stirring, adding that little touch of melancholy, as much in the thick rhythmics as in the deep lyrics. A moment of gentleness with Interlude, a pared-down instrumental composition in which only a few notes of guitar are heard, then the rage returns immediately, accompanied by the technicality of The Price of Pain and its Old School touches that fit in perfectly with the furious eruptions that await us. The new surge is the eponymous Living Chaos, which wastes not a single moment to show us its raw power and end as it began, giving way to Broken Curse, the longest track on the album, which also seems to be the most imposing, blending grandiose samples to reinforce the impact and raw groove of the riffs right up to the final moments.
Oceano are in top form, and the band have clearly taken the time to sharpen Living Chaos. The album is aptly named, as I’m sure it will devastate every venue the band plays in the future!
90/100