OKComputer1016
07/02/08, 04:44 PM
Century - Black Ocean
Record Label: Prosthetic Records
Release Date: April 29, 2008
What do you call that genre of literary (that means "big words") hardcore that warrants a Wikipedia check or two to understand the lyrics? That brutally metallic but expansively artistic field of music dominated by the likes of Mastodon, housing acts like Baroness and The Ocean – have we given it a name yet? Climbing-A-Mountain-Core? Whatever label you feel like giving Century, “That Mastodon Kind of Music” probably works best, even if they are about 90% less over-the-top than said wolfmen.
Because I really dig Black Ocean, I’ll use the benefit of the doubt term of “progressive” rather than “pretentious” to summarize track names like “Pantheon” and “Daylight Algorithim”. If you’re someone who thought the name Calculating Infinity was the best part of Calculating Infinity by Dillinger Escape Plan (as opposed to the worst part), then I suggest that you either read a Mars Volta stanza and feel your brain explode or hit up the Century Myspace and check whether or not it’s love at first sight.
As an English major, I approached these lyrics like homework. They’re poetic and dark, but a little bit overdone: “This is the end / The sun sets on our broken backs / And we’ve been here before.” My personal rule of thumb regarding poetic lyrics (or poetry in general) is to discount a million points whenever I see a reference to the sun setting. That isn’t a metaphor for anything except writer’s block. But hell, you can’t hear what he’s saying anyway so I’ll give that a rest.
But wait! I’m going to talk about music, too! Let’s jump right into production, because, let’s be honest, the people behind the scenes are the ones making and breaking the albums these days. The sound quality is really crisp – so much in fact that the tracks just burst right out at you, but they’re well under control. As with the new Torche album, it’s mixed to explode controllably. Drive while listening to it - I promise it won’t sound like there’s aluminum cans in your trunk.
Big drums are the factor I hold responsible for the driving capability: they’re huge. Sure, all metalcore releases these days place the drums upfront in the mix, but generally it’s meant to put a spotlight on corny double bass tricks during the breakdown (or the entire album if you are Emmure). But goodness gracious, Black Ocean has good drums! They still exist in metal! Tell your friends! The mix places them beneath, between, and behind the melodic instruments so they’re pretty much omnipresent, and you can hear more than just the double bass drum. Think The Who meets The Chariot (what?).
Check out that haunting discordant arpeggio that makes “Monolith” such a ‘single block or piece of stone of considerable size’ (dictionary.com) – that’s a trick right out of Cave In’s old school bag. There’s a bit of a spacey element to some of these songs that Botch would be proud of. Botch would also be proud of the Pantheon reference because they are the Romans.
Century sound sophisticated and heavy enough to be the perfect tourmates for Mastodon, and they do it without ripping them off (Baroness, anybody?) For those of you who have begun to lose faith that 2008 will have a metal act to watch, I think I just proved you wrong. The only way this album will disappoint you is if you’re a metal purist who saw “Century” and “Black” on an album cover and thought he was buying Immortal (I am very sorry if you did not know that Century Black is a record label. If you want, you may nominate me for the most obsolete reference of the year award). And even then, you might love it.
Shai Hulud, Mastodon, The Ocean
myspace.com/century (http://www.myspace.com/century)
Record Label: Prosthetic Records
Release Date: April 29, 2008
What do you call that genre of literary (that means "big words") hardcore that warrants a Wikipedia check or two to understand the lyrics? That brutally metallic but expansively artistic field of music dominated by the likes of Mastodon, housing acts like Baroness and The Ocean – have we given it a name yet? Climbing-A-Mountain-Core? Whatever label you feel like giving Century, “That Mastodon Kind of Music” probably works best, even if they are about 90% less over-the-top than said wolfmen.
Because I really dig Black Ocean, I’ll use the benefit of the doubt term of “progressive” rather than “pretentious” to summarize track names like “Pantheon” and “Daylight Algorithim”. If you’re someone who thought the name Calculating Infinity was the best part of Calculating Infinity by Dillinger Escape Plan (as opposed to the worst part), then I suggest that you either read a Mars Volta stanza and feel your brain explode or hit up the Century Myspace and check whether or not it’s love at first sight.
As an English major, I approached these lyrics like homework. They’re poetic and dark, but a little bit overdone: “This is the end / The sun sets on our broken backs / And we’ve been here before.” My personal rule of thumb regarding poetic lyrics (or poetry in general) is to discount a million points whenever I see a reference to the sun setting. That isn’t a metaphor for anything except writer’s block. But hell, you can’t hear what he’s saying anyway so I’ll give that a rest.
But wait! I’m going to talk about music, too! Let’s jump right into production, because, let’s be honest, the people behind the scenes are the ones making and breaking the albums these days. The sound quality is really crisp – so much in fact that the tracks just burst right out at you, but they’re well under control. As with the new Torche album, it’s mixed to explode controllably. Drive while listening to it - I promise it won’t sound like there’s aluminum cans in your trunk.
Big drums are the factor I hold responsible for the driving capability: they’re huge. Sure, all metalcore releases these days place the drums upfront in the mix, but generally it’s meant to put a spotlight on corny double bass tricks during the breakdown (or the entire album if you are Emmure). But goodness gracious, Black Ocean has good drums! They still exist in metal! Tell your friends! The mix places them beneath, between, and behind the melodic instruments so they’re pretty much omnipresent, and you can hear more than just the double bass drum. Think The Who meets The Chariot (what?).
Check out that haunting discordant arpeggio that makes “Monolith” such a ‘single block or piece of stone of considerable size’ (dictionary.com) – that’s a trick right out of Cave In’s old school bag. There’s a bit of a spacey element to some of these songs that Botch would be proud of. Botch would also be proud of the Pantheon reference because they are the Romans.
Century sound sophisticated and heavy enough to be the perfect tourmates for Mastodon, and they do it without ripping them off (Baroness, anybody?) For those of you who have begun to lose faith that 2008 will have a metal act to watch, I think I just proved you wrong. The only way this album will disappoint you is if you’re a metal purist who saw “Century” and “Black” on an album cover and thought he was buying Immortal (I am very sorry if you did not know that Century Black is a record label. If you want, you may nominate me for the most obsolete reference of the year award). And even then, you might love it.
Shai Hulud, Mastodon, The Ocean
myspace.com/century (http://www.myspace.com/century)