As Oceans Divide – As Oceans Divide EP
As Oceans Divide – As Oceans Divide EP
Self-Released
Release Date: 09/07/26
Review by Beth Morait
10/10
Canada has a habit of producing some epic musicians, and the subject of today’s review is no exception! Hitting us with their debut self-titled EP, Ontario’s As Oceans Divide absolutely means business. And this one instantly tickled my fancy, as the sound is hugely influenced by one of my favourites, Killswitch Engage.
This is abundantly obvious in the opening track, ‘Into The Light’; a punishing progressive metalcore track, full of pace, but also full of melody – an absolute banging start to a debut. And it’s brilliantly executed by this talented bunch of musicians, who are no stranger to the scene, having all played in various bands before. Tom Emmans handles the vocal duties, and his range of growls, screams, and cleans is superb. Thomas Ireland and Eric Camilleri handle the guitars, delivering chunky crunching riffs with a thrashy edge, but still rooted in the modern metalcore side of things. And Matt McGuire handles the drums. I say ‘handles’, but ‘beats the living shit out of’ would probably be a more apt description!
The central musical theme of the EP is contrast – and the band achieves this very well, moving between the punishing heavy sections and the melodic reprieves gracefully and cleverly. Lyrically, the album explores a lot of difficult emotional states, and is inspired by the loss of bassist Dale Burrows, who passed in March this year. The band says this “profoundly shaped the emotional core of this release”.
‘White Noise’ has a slightly more classic feel to it, and uses clean vocals a lot more, but there is still the undertone of screams hidden in the background. It’s as close to a ballad as we’re likely to get on this release. That’s followed by ‘World Collapse ’, which takes us back to the heaviness of the opening track, and some – opening with a ridiculous drum riff and a blood-curdling scream. I can see some epic walls of death occurring to this track. It’s the kind of track that makes me wish I was still young enough to get involved in a pit!
‘Cursed Oblivion’ shifts back to a more classic feel, and is very early 2000s, with an extremely catchy melody in the chorus. I think this is probably my favourite track of the record. Great guitar solo in it too!
‘One of The Herd’ brings the EP to a close, and it’s another crusher that will be epic for pits! All in all this is what I would consider a technically and musically perfect release! This is likely to end up in my Top Ten this year. If you like Killswitch, As I Lay Dying, All That Remains, Unearth, and God Forbid, then you’ll like As Oceans Divide.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Into The Dying Light
02. White Noise
03. World Collapse
04. Cursed Oblivion
05. One Of The Herd
LINKS:
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