OceansAteAlaska-LostIsles

Review: Oceans Ate Alaska's 'Lost Isles' is "a genre-juggling tempest"

Oceans Ate Alaska

Lost Isles

“Mother still grieves over that day you left,” Oceans Ate Alaska cry over nuclear-powered metalcore on their lead single “Blood Brothers,” which flaunts deader-than-death growls, bloody shrieks and Oli Sykes-like wails. The British band’s debut is a genre-juggling tempest seemingly propelled by sonic ADD. (On “High Horse,” they zip from a speedy, tech-melodeath blitz to slow chugging to deathcore artillery to chill prog, all in under a minute.) OAA’s riff lightning can at times feel more like a weapon than an instrument (“Part Of Something”), and dude-that-part-was-sick moments transpire often. But you wish they’d linger longer, as some songs feel more like a collection of mini-tracks. That’s not the case on “Vultures And Sharks,” where a bubbling lead illuminates a spacey prog soundscape, and melody (sometimes) subdues madness. Surprisingly, the album’s strongest moment happens when the tricks stop, on the slower, earnest “Floorboards.”

Fearless http://www.fearlessrecords.com

“High Horse”