Review Summary: Slow, beautiful and serene at one moment, then loud, chaotic and dominating the next, Effloresce is a diverse masterpiece of a debut album. This album demonstrates what a highly determined group of musicians can do, without a large fan base.
While not necessarily a classic, this is one album which holds such a unique and personal touch to it, while simultaneously blending a wide array of genres, from post-rock, progressive, electronic, and hard rock. It is the type of album which I will not tire of any time soon, and will certainly not leave my CD player for years to come. As a debut album, this cannot be overlooked. I have never seen such a fantastic debut for any band in my time.
The album starts out very serene, with the track "I am the Morning", and gives the listener the feeling that what is to come will progress no further than your run-of-the-mill alternative rock. However, this feeling is soon overlooked as Oceansize crank out a truly great instrumental, then setting the stage for "Catalyst", a song with a slurry of time signature changes, a catchy riff, and some great technical prowess by both the guitarists and drummer. This is then followed by the brooding and mysterious "Massive Bereavement", which showcases some massive riffs and grooves.
The following track, "One Day All This Could Be Yours", mixes the established for up a bit, and modulates to a much darker feel, with much more electronic influence than the previous two pieces. After building to a loud and fantastic ending, the album takes a short intermission with the track "Rinsed", which is a calm and floating instrumental featuring atmospheric guitars fluttering over a gentle bass melody. The song eventually swells up and down, like an Ocean, to end on a somber and echoing bass drum kick.
"You Wish", perhaps one of the more accessible songs on the album, starts out immediately with clean guitars and an unusual 13/8 time signature. This song almost perfectly mixes loud/soft dynamics with pounding riffs, catchy choruses, and the unusual time changes of which Oceansize are so well known for.
The next track, "Remember Where You Are", commences with an open snare drum beat in 7/8 time, followed by a beautifully-written mix of guitars, which feels completely natural even in the uncommon time signature. This is a fantastic piece and showcases once more the loud/soft dynamics of the band, along with their ability to perfectly blend three guitars into one enveloping environment. The song then swells up and leads directly into "Amputee", the most standard thing you will find on Effloresce. Still, it is a far cry from a mainstream alt. rock song. The main chorus features a background phaser effect which perfectly blends the guitar and bass riffs together as frontman Mike Vennart enters with excellent vocals. This song turns out to be the radio hit that never was.
The following two tracks are in stable time signatures, which is at this point a well-timed refreshment from the mind-boggling complexities of the first half of the album. "Unravel", a song cleverly named for the piano melody, which is an excerpt from a Ravel piece, is, like "Rinsed" before it, a calm and relaxing interlude. The next song, "Women Who Love Men Who Love Drugs", a title taken from a newspaper headline which the band read, is a perfect example of Oceansize's ability to blend together three intertwining guitar lines and make it seem not chaotic, but beautiful. it seems all of their abilities congregate in this one post-rock masterpiece. Despite minimal lyrics, it speaks all the way through.
"Saturday Morning Breakfast Show" is an even longer work of progressive existentialism, and contains some huge riffs within a time period which seems to fly by like days at the park did as a child. It's hard to hear, but the band utilizes a female backup singer on this track. Sadly she is just barely audible, but it does create a nice effect.
The final song on the album seems to pull everything together for one last performance, a beautiful, solemn closing piece entitled "Long Forgotten". A string section takes centerpiece in this song, and I believe it is the perfect way to end such a beautiful album. It gives the listener the feeling of slipping into bed after a long and epic adventure, recollecting the journey and looking towards to future.
For their debut album, Oceansize have definitely set the playing field for amazing things to come. Generally an album of this stature comes far off into an artists career, once they have established themselves and matured a great deal. But in this case, a fresh new band has made a lasting impression. To me, this album is one which I will not forget, and I am sure any fan will not forget this one as well. Oceansize has won me over with its two-sided face, wrestling between beauty and power.
Recommended Tracks:
-Catalyst
-Massive Bereavement
-You Wish
-Amputee
-Women Who Love Men Who Love Drugs
-Long Forgotten
