Straight out of a small regional country town in Australia, this metalcore heavy-hitting band has a sound that is rooted in the duality of clean and harsh vocals to make their emotion-based lyrics hit exactly how they intend. With riffs and breakdowns that you can feel in your veins as much as in your nervous system! Ocean Sleeper is back, and I am personally obsessed.
Ocean Sleeper is a personal favorite of mine, so honestly this was a must-review album release for me. They did not disappoint either! Originally, this band was left to take a DIY approach, and I believe this gave them the ability to refine themselves and redefine the market around them.
Some of my favorite songs off the album are "Break The Cycle", "Every Part Of Me", "Punishment", "Skin Deep" and "Taste". It was hard to pick which to even tell you all without having listed the whole album's worth of songs, but it's a good mix of the heavier songs off this album and some that are not. These are the songs I not only felt more connected to myself, but I really love the way this band uses isolated spoken-word lines, digital sounds, breathy gasping, and the layering of the clean verse harsh vocals through all the songs on the album, which really sets their sound and writing style apart from other metalcore bands.
The music video for "Break The Cycle" is a high-energy video filmed in what seems to be an abandoned building at times; then at other times, the band members are playing in front of a projector that is showcasing videos of a woman close up, usually smiling. Other scenes are a man in what seems to be either a contraption that is for torture or testing screaming and trying to break free, as he has what seems like flashbacks to the same woman in front of a lake, sometimes smiling and laughing.
This, paired with the lyrics about breaking the cycle, allude to being a depiction of trying to find your way out of mental health issues and possibly even cycles of abuse that we have been taught. The visuals have an almost Saw-type feel to them, but without it being a direct reference and still keeping the theme about mental health.
Photo Credit: Facebook
Ocean Sleeper is a band that I am personally a big fan of. Their writing and song structures keep me engaged, and I think a lot of fans can say the same for their music. I would really love to see this band find some good, solid sync placements in movies and shows that have mental health themes, as well as scenes where they can help accentuate the emotions in them.
I am excited for what their future could bring, and of course I will be cheering them on the whole time! Go listen to the "Peace When I'm Dead" album now!
Meet the band!
Karl Spiessl – Lead Vocalist and Front man
Ionei Heckenberg – Guitarist and Backing Vocalist
Stan Liagourdis – Guitarist
Jarred Robson – Drummer
