Album Rating: 4.0

Belligerence is like immediate SOTY for me, jfc I can't wait for this album.

Album Rating: 4.5

new songs are pogging off, barely listened to these guys in the last few years. now im hyped for their new album

My first thought upon seeing the title of the new album was Stanisław Lem, but for some inexplicable reason I assumed that it was a coincidence.

Yeah, they drew from one of the film adaptations of Solaris.

Album Rating: 4.0

Going to be seeing these guys and Psychonaut in a couple of months, but I haven't really listened to either yet, outside of a few songs. Psychonaut has a sound that gelled with me almost immediately, so I'll be doing a discog run soon.



Not so easy with this band, as they have so much material out by now. Do I start from the beginning? Or is there any album of theirs that's comparatively more accessible, and so more suitable to start from?

Album Rating: 3.0

First three albums were a revolving cast around Robin Staps. Heavy, sludgy, often very post-metal. Growled vocals, wild tempo changes, some analog explorations, and a string quartet. Precambrian is the jewel of this era.

Loic joined as vocalist and the next three albums were pretty steady. Songwriting got more melodic, with lots of clean vocals, and proggy tendencies thanks to Luc Hess on drums. The -Centrics were thematically interesting but inconsistent musically. Pelagial put it all together with a conceptual and sonic descent from almost metalcore down to funeral doom.

Then everyone BUT Robin and Loic were replaced for three albums. Phan 1 found a middle ground between the earlier eras. Phan 2 hit hard early and then drifted toward a more ambient/electronic direction that Holocene dove fully into.

A pretty clean 3/3/3 evolution leading into the next era. I'd start with the peaks — Phan 1 for the most recent sound, Pelagial, and Precambrian. If those click, the sput averages are pretty on-point for a futher roadmap. Their retrospective+live DVD "Collective Oblivion" is one of the best I've found.

thank you for attending my TED talk



tl;dr start with Phanerozoic I or Pelagial

Album Rating: 4.0

Such a comprehensive and detailed response, and in record time too. Thank you so much, your answer is of great help to me.



I guess I'll start with Pelagial, as I'm into funeral doom lately so it sounds like a good starting point, and then move onto the other ones you mentioned (if Pelagial clicks of course).

Album Rating: 3.0

hell yeah, glad that helps. reverse-gatekeeping is my passion.

speaking of funeral doom, I see you don't have either Un album in your ratings, so I'mma slip Sentiment's card under your door while I'm here. that album is the perfect balance of tectonic riffs and gorgeously forboding harmonies. like if dISEMBOWELMENT went to therapy and progressed from anger to acceptance.

Album Rating: 4.0

Thanks mate, I'm new to doom except for big names like Paradise Lost and a few indie bands here and there. So any recommendation is welcome. I'll check Un out as well. =)

Not sure what to think about the new direction, i don't like too much how the new lady sounds

Album Rating: 3.5

I saw a live clip of an old song with her doing vocals for it. Was pretty good, I dont think either of the singles atm have really given Lane a great moment to show off.

Album Rating: 4.0

"Not sure what to think about the new direction, i don't like too much how the new lady sounds"

Worst opinion I've literally seen on this whole ass website.

Album Rating: 4.0

Also been getting hard into Psychonaut this last year and if you like them, check out Hippotraktor, same vocalist/guitarist and they've got a new one about to drop as well + the last couple releases were great.



The Ocean also has 0 misses in their entire discography imo. People disparage Helio/Anthropocentric the most and they probably are their weakest overall but easy 3.5-4 range for me on those still, band is just really locked into sounds I like.

Album Rating: 3.0

"Firmament" and "Origin of Species/Origin of God" are the kind of tentpoles that can support even the soggiest album.

Album Rating: 3.5

Anthro has some very catchy tunes

Album Rating: 4.5

I actually find Anthro to be a slightly stronger album of the two, with the opening and closing tracks being severely underrated (I get the latter since it may get little whiney for some but I'm personally loving the vocal melody there)

Album Rating: 4.5

New single(s) lads! As usual with Ocean's singles, totally different vibe than other songs they showcased. And it's also good, I even like this more than the previous one (which I see everyone loved but for me was just fine)

New here .. can someone fill me in w.r.t. this band's naming conventions using what I'm assuming are archaeological epochs and eras all over the place. I can't decide if it's really cool and smart or really pretentious and makes it hard to associate songs with their titles?

Album Rating: 4.0

If it gives you a better perspective, here is how Staps explained the concept of Phanerozoic II:

"Though humanity is only a very recent phenomenon in the 541 million years history of the Phanerozoic eon, the lyrics are obviously written from a human perspective. They are following Nietzsche's philosophical idea of amor fati in the light of the larger themes of Eternal Recurrence, and the inevitability of an imaginary impending collision on a planetary scale, which are the two red threads that go through Phanerozoic I and II."



So yes, the eras sort of guide the direction and intent of the music and, at least for me, I really only started noticing certain songs on Holocene. Before that, I didn't consider individual songs as much as I considered the album as a whole. Which I would also assume has always been the band's intention. I'm also not as into the group as others are so it is probably easier to develop an ear for specific songs if you've followed them long enough. But I think the overarching concept is cool, even if I do find it a bit impenetrable at times.

Aha, that makes plenty of sense actually, reminds me of Insomnium's Winters Gate which is essentially one long ass piece of music, devoid of separate tracks as typically one would find. Just one long, continuous experience