Oceans of Night

Friday, 06 January 2012 04:47

Band: Oceans of Night
Album: Domain
Label: Author
Tracks: 10
Release Date: 2011
Length: n/a Riff Score: 7.5/10 How are scores attributed? Domain is the name of the Oceans of Night sophomore album. Comprised of 10 songs full of powerful chorus and atmospheric landscapes, Domain showcases the band's improved songwriting skills as well as the mental fortitude to avoid traditional song structures and arrangements. A clear improvement from 2009's release "The Shadowheart Mirror", Domain really kicks up a notch in terms of sonic proficiency; mixing and engineering were conducted by Joey Vera (Fates Warning, Armored Saint) that has done an excellent job, resulting in the album's big sound.


The album starts of with the tremendous title track "Domain", clocking at more than 17 minutes, this track packs a very strong chorus and very pleasing vocal melody line. The Flow of the song is extremely balanced (for a 17 minute piece) and really goes by faster that you would expect - unlike some of the other tracks that end sooner than you would hope.

"Don't Look to Me" is a song more focused on the vocal melodies, with some nice rhythmic fluctuations; the leads on this one really scream classic rock, but the sum of all parts really brings the sound to the present.

In third place comes a song with a more accessible feel; sporting some synth rhythms and some evocative chorus, the vocal melodies on this one are really inspiring resulting in one of the standout tracks.

The fourth track is "Dreams in Artificial Sunlight", the shortest track on the album, and an instrumental piece with excellent dynamics and buildup.

"Divisions of Time" is a very homogenous song that is not able to take off like some of the others on the album.

On sixth place comes "Seven Days of Rain", one of the best songs on the album. Very nice song structure, engaging build up and a good guitar lead dissertation. Unfortunately this piece ends leaving the listener wanting for more.

The seventh track is has some excellent movement and great synth usage; the simplistic nature of the drumming allows the guitar lead to stand out. In the middle of the song, everything stops leaving a big question mark on what is going to happen, but the song comes back and picks up a familiar theme, as it rides to its conclusion.

"Instruments of Fear" is an up-tempo heavy song, with very heavy riffs and a full instrumental dressing. The guitar leads on this one are very intense and perhaps some of the most inspired of the album.

After the storm that is track number nine, enters "The Future Remembered". A clear departure from the heavy up-tempo, this song packs a colorful padded intro that flows gracefully into what constitutes the main section of the song. The intro vibe stays for the whole song, adding a sense of urgency to the vocal melody.

The final track is "Ghosts of the Past", a very well constructed song with excellent lyrics and a very good chorus. Probably the song with the higher potential to appeal to a more mainstream audience. The album comes to a conclusion in a memorable way, guaranteeing another listen.

Globally the album is quite good, with some very inspired synth moments. The distorted guitar song is a bit excessive and the collective sound of the songs would benefit from a more balanced distortion.

The songwriting is very good in most of the songs, but there are some examples where the flow is unnatural and sometimes predictable and dull. The most disturbing aspect of the album is the number of tracks that fade out as they were starting to unfold; probably this was a conscious decision to avoid a small collection of very long songs, but in this case the songs end up not being what they could, had the band expanded them.

For a band without a label, Domain is a tremendous effort which proves that great things can be accomplished without big budgets. A clear warning sign to many bands that are allowed luxurious conditions without half the talent of Oceans of Night.

An additional note of congratulations to Scott Mosher and his DIY take no prisoners approach, that will surely result in a big step forward in terms of exposure for Oceans of Night – a band to look for in the near future.

Band Website: Click HERE






Post: Francisco Monteiro
Text: Gonçalo Lemos






Metal Genres: Progressive Metal |

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