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Amazon.co.uk Review
As if in answer to the current mania for scrappy garage rock, Manchester's Oceansize deliver a debut album of an immensity to match their name with Effloresce. Immediately, they set out their store, the opening instrumental "I Am the Morning" rising from a pretty tinkling to a quite awesome three-guitar prog-rock crescendo. And then it gets bigger, the multi-faceted "Catalyst" raising the tension with numerous false starts before taking off for real. The following "One Day All This Could Be Yours" is another mind-blitz, its muted, very English harmonies recalling Pink Floyd, while the constantly mutating, 10-minute "Massive Bereavement", with backing vocals courtesy of Claire Lemmon from the criminally under-rated Sidi Bou Said, approaches the spacey sci-fi and crunching metallics of prime-era King Crimson. Amazingly, its power is matched by two other caustic monsters, "You Wish" and "Saturday Morning Breakfast Show".
Though Effloresce is not wholly about the gradual construction of complex space-rock freak-outs--the soft, bassy "Rinsed" and moody piano piece "Unravel" do change the mood--at 75 minutes, it does become a tad indigestible. Then again, any band that figures Andrew Eldritch so prominently in their "thank you" list is bound to go over-the-top. Having climbed so high so quickly, it'll be fascinating to see where Oceansize could possibly go next. --Dominic Wills
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Immense,
This review is from: Effloresce (Audio CD)
How do you describe this band? One moment they sound like Mogwai, then they remind you of Radiohead and then they just pull off a huge guitar riff that shouts out influences of Nirvana. It's a beautiful hybrid of post rock and grunge.This album kicks off with the beautiful instrumental 'You Are the Morning', which is basically Mogwai with slightly more electronics thrown into the mix. But as the metallic 'tinging' outro of this track ends, we are thrown headfirst straight into the monster riff of 'Catalyst'. But then if you thought that the song was simply going to be one of their 'loud numbers', you were wrong. Suddenly the guitars fall away and singer Mike Vennart is left softly singing over just drums and a lightly plucked but heavily distorted guitar. Then, the monster riffs kick again. And so on and so forth throughout the rest of the album. Time after time the listener is surprised by sudden changes in tempo, dynamics and volume. Another thing about the music is that it really does live up to the bands name. The sound that emits from your speakers is huge. You get the feeling that if only the band were able to get enough attention; they would sound perfect filling out an entire arena or huge festival. It is also easy to imagine some of the songs being used to soundtrack an epic battle, and even the quieter moments sound like 50's Cold War paranoia expressed with music. The immense soundscapes that Oceansize create are simply dripping with emotion and atmosphere. I have walked through a forest with this album playing on my Walkman and was startled by how fitting the song 'One Day All This Could Be Yours' was to the situation. The unknown surroundings, the vulnerability to attack, its all expressed on this album. All of the songs have their own little situation that they would be perfect for. You quite simply need to own this album. If you're a fan of post-rock outfits like Mogwai or Godspeed You! Black Emperor then you should definitely check this out because Oceansize have brought something exciting and new to the genre. If you're not familiar with the aforementioned bands then buy this album to get introduced to a whole new style of music that will blow you away.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning,
By
This review is from: Effloresce (Audio CD)
This is quite simply the best album I have bought all year. And I've bought some good 'uns. And to think they're English...Difficult to describe without pigeonholing them and that would be doing them a severe injustice. I guess, throw bits of Tool, Radiohead and Mogwai together and you might get close to this. It's fantastic to discover a band playing the kind of music they want to and being recognised and applauded for doing so. Quite fantastic...
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
as big as the ocean and twice as loud,
By
This review is from: Effloresce (Audio CD)
this marks the start of a string of consistently great releases from this drastically underrated band. Indeed, it is suprising that this is a debut effort, such is the power, precision and conviction of "Effloresce". There is a lot of variety here, and with each idea they hit the nail bang on the head.
Oceansize may not be as heavy as, say, ISIS, or as delicate as perhaps Sigur Ros, but they address both sides of the musical coin with such determination, and such visceral results, that it makes one wonder why this manchester quintet have not achived the same levels of acclaim and recognition of these and other post-rock acts. There are moments of lush, phase-laden atmospherics that lull the listener - such as the gorgeous "men who love women who love drugs"- leaving you hanging on every single, perfectly placed note. But the real highlights of the album are when Oceansize flick the switch, as they do to such dramatic effect on "massive bereavment" and the riotous "saturday morning breakfast show", and then its full on, three guitar, double-basspedal assault. Such is their ferocity at various points that they reach a tone of "post-metal" that will leave fans of Tool - a band that some compare them to - not disappointed. In between these two extremes lie some of the most invigorating anthems of the bands career - "Catalyst", a live favourite, "Remember Where you are/amputee" as a blistering, brilliant couplet - that still have the power to excite some seven years later, and gives a chance for a sing-along rarely afforded by bands of this ilk. Throughout this long lp, the production and mixing (which are absolutely first rate) create a brilliant sense of cohesion across the variety of sounds, giving a real personality and signature to the music. In fact, the real satisfaction of this piece is to take it as a starting point, and then to follow the different avenues that their career would take. The superb Music For Nurses ep and the enthralling Everyone into Position rank highly in the Oceansize back catalogue, but this remains the purest exhibition of what this band is all about. If you like post-rock with a heavy edge, are a fan of Mogwai, ISIS, 65DOS or the Smashing Pumpkins, appreciate beauty and intricacy, then you've got no excuse for not already owning this album. A masterpiece.
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