As concept artists go, THE OCEAN have always been one of the greats for me. ‘Pelagial’, their sixth album, is the first to focus on the sea and the intricacy and complexity of the aquatic: broken into seven sections over eleven tracks, sonically recreating the scientifically defined depths of the submarinal. Starting at the surface with Epipelagic then Mesopelagic, Bathyalpelagic, Abyssopelagic, Hadopelagic, Demersal and finally the deepest point of the ocean and this album, Benthic. Sadly this wasn’t covered in my Geography class so I had to reach for the dictionary, which is regularly thumbed when it comes to Prog anyway.

Following on from the album’s opening segment of piano focused and orchestral backed soundscapes, intended to suggest the tranquil shallows, ‘Mesopelagic: Into the Uncanny’ is a relaxed yet increasingly inharmonious track that drives down with a great focus on the lighter weight guitars. Gradually as the pressure builds conceptually and audibly, the listener descends another layer with the instrumentation. ‘Bathypelagic I: Impasses” contains within it progressive crescendos towards syncopated adaptive phrases, that smoothly link from part to part, making it one of my favorite sections on the album.

I don’t think I can say the album builds up, it more plunges down, towards the lower echelons of the subject. It eventually reaches points of the ocean not yet explored, with a sound so gloomy and doomy that the bowels quiver (in a good way) and a pressure worthy of the depth of the Benthic zone (really fucking deep).

As the album progresses so does the dissonance, both of vocals and of instrumentation, still providing a narrative that THE OCEAN are immense at propagating and retaining from the initial sprouts of the album to the moment the mighty redwood falls leaving only noise. (I am aware that the forest analogy is not the most appropriate to the context of the album, but I felt it apt all the same).

THE OCEAN make a body of music that is more than the sum of it’s parts. Having said that there is many a serving of genius, with phrases that are rendered so much more fulfilling after up to 6 minutes of swell before the momentous surf drowns you in brilliance (another metaphor, sorry).

In this world of shuffle and radio release singles, THE OCEAN remain quite rightly steadfast in their goal as a creator of exceptional concept albums.

J Rangeley

Track Listing:

1.         “Epipelagic”

2.         “Mesopelagic: Into the Uncanny”

3.         “Bathyalpelagic I: Impasses”

4.         “Bathyalpelagic II: The Wish in Dreams”

5.         “Bathyalpelagic III: Disequillibrated”

6.         “Abyssopelagic I: Boundless Vasts”

7.         “Abyssopelagic II: Signals of Anxiety”

8.         “Hadopelagic I: Omen of the Deep”

9.         “Hadopelagic II: Let Them Believe”

10.       “Demersal: Cognitive Dissonance”

11.       “Benthic: The Origin of Our Wishes”