Incisions brings back the core influence even more so and the album kind of falters from lack of originality, this is evident with bland album opener, “Eternal Wasteland”. Nice little downbeat slam 30 seconds into the song and I notice a pretty heavy djent influence this time around.  Song is slow and boring.  They should have opened the album with the second song, “Slow Murder”.  Song has some nice bass bomb drops, which are more evident on this album, than their second album.  Some nice tight blast beats, varying tempos and a killer slam at the 3.45 mark.  “Internal War” has some clean vocals from Adam, which are actually pretty cool sounding, and the song soon erupts into a vicious blast.  The 2.20 part has a nice bass bomb slam and again Adam’s vocals shining on this track with his gutturals, cleans and shrieks.

The middle section loses me a bit and I zoned the hell out several times, thinking I was on track 6, but I looked up and was on track 9.  Things started to sound too similar and I was annoyed that I wasted my time.  “Disseverance” is a pointless instrumental, because while the music sounds ok, I am not sure why lyrics/vocals were not part of this tune, since I feel this track would have benefited from being a regular song.  I mean instrumentals are supposed to show off musicianship, solos and shit and this song is just a deathcore song minus the vocals.  Anyway the album is ok, not the bang up come back album that I would have expected from the band, as far as I’m concerned.

The five-piece are currently hard at work writing the long-awaited follow-up to 2010’s CONTAGION, with plans to release the new album later this year on Earache Records.

OCEANO have released an official lyric video for a brand new track which is set to appear on INCISIONS, titled “Slow Murder”, giving fans a taste of the brutality to come.

Check out “Slow Murder” now at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFZ3I6ZTXR4

OCEANO guitarist NICK CONSER comments:

“The new Oceano comes out today.  Get ready for it.  We’re starting a new chapter in this band.  We’re not selling out.  We’re not getting soft.  We’re getting more fucked up and bringing more hate.  And if you want us to change, then you’re gonna be disappointed.  We’re not gonna replicate any album that we’ve ever released.  We’re going to get more evil than anything you’ve heard from this band.  Today will show the start of how hateful this record is gonna be.”

OCEANO will be hitting the road again full-time this summer in support of the new album, with tour dates due to be announced in the near future.  The band also have a hometown show scheduled for this Friday, February 1st at Reggie’s Rock Club in Chicago, featuring support from MONSTERS, THE OX KING, THIEVES and NO ZODIAC.

View a new photo of OCEANO at http://earacherecords.com/myspace/oceano_2013.jpg

OCEANO’s first two albums, DEPTHS and CONTAGION, are available on CD in North America at http://bit.ly/du4Fen and in Europe at http://bit.ly/hYpDqY

Get more OCEANO news and info at:

Facebook – http://facebook.com/oceanometa

Adam Warren: I wasn’t too surprised given I had confidence in myself and my band mates I was and still am very proud of what we created over the years leading up to Depth‘s release, but surely am grateful for the success its brought us thus far.

Do you take issue with the backlash that ‘real’ metal fans have against the deathcore genre and its fans and the stigma of being a deathcore band? I have to admit, while I love the music, the fans at shows just annoy the crap out of me.

AW: Honestly, no. We have had our love/hate relationship with internet haters, and we have made it clear we DO know they’re there, but as a band we just laugh at all the people who pre-judge us and ANY band based solely on the genre or style pinned upon them. In the end Music is Music. The Fans ARE what make the shows amazing for us on stage, (annoying to some or not) but when it comes to the personal connection of a fan and their music, the world could be completely wiped clean of existence if music remained, I know I wouldn’t really care.

Why do you think there is such a negative response (obviously a broad generalization,) to deathcore?

AW: There is a negative outlook towards the genre because it essentially takes something old, that for years has been loved and perfected by the older generations of metal heads, and blends it with the new school styles of Metal and hardcore. Its a new twist on an old (but never forgotten) style and some people resent that. Others felt just because its NEW it automatically is “trendy” music which would die out quicker than its inception. You’d think with the immense success of such crossover bands who notably accredit both death metal and other forms of metal and hardcore, such as Whitechapel, Suicide Silence Ect. people would stop shit talking and at least accept these bands within the metal community…

That being said, on Depths and even more with Contagion, like a few other deathcore bands, you’ve taken a few more steps into death metal. Do you think some former deathcore bands are purposely trying to align further with death metal and distance themselves from deathcore?

AW: Looking at the few bigger bands who are considered “Deathcore” to me its neither nor. Bands are always evolving the way they write their style of music. Considering a band DOES have heavy influence from the Death Metal sound, it only makes sense that some of these influences will shine brighter on future releases. Its a natural progression. I mean, what else would happen, they add “more” of their “hip-hop” influences into the mix? hahaha. I Dont think so.

With Depths, you guys quickly rose to the top of the deathcore heap. If you had to rate other top deathcore bands alongside Oceano, what bands or albums would you choose? Personally, you recently finished touring with a couple of them in Whitechapel, Impending Doom and I Declare War as well as currently touring with Chelsea Grin.

AW: Yes. Ill just list my Top favorite bands in the game right now: Suicide Silence, Attila, Molotov Solution, and a band we just toured with out of our home area called Monsters.

You are wrapping up the Contagion across the Nation Tour, with another great deathcore band, Chelsea Grin, as well as Christian metalers In the Midst of Lions. How is the tour going?

AW: As I right this now, we are completely finished and the tour went really well. Granted we knew we had a very solid package of bands on board, the overall turnouts and interest in the shows far exceeded my already optimistic expectations.

Is there ever any issues when touring with a Christian band- whether the band or the fans?

AW: Never! We get those “Oceano Vs. Religion” questions from everyone. We dont really care what people do with their lives or what they believe as long as they dont try and shove it down ours, or the fans throats.

You are signed to Earache records, an obviously legendary label in metal. How does it feel to be one of Earache’s flagship bands?

AW: Its almost shocking considering were are considered by most hard-line metal heads as a bastard in the death metal scene. Earache is an awesome label though, and I am very honored and privileged to be a part of a label which has helped jump start the careers to a ton of bands which are the reason we even play the music we do.

So Earache also signed And Hell Followed With, a band that sounds a lot like you guys, and to me a signing that either shows how happy Earache was with the sales of Depths- or is it merely riding the coattails of whats selling? Does that bother you or do you take it as a complement?

AW: AHFW actually are good friends of ours. They’re from Michigan which is only a few hours away from us, so we’ve played with them more than a few times way before we both were signed. If anything, I see it as Earache realizing that they should put more effort in signing the more younger bands coming up in the U.S. metal scene. I do see where people could compare us in sound, but I think they take the ambient/atmospheric feel we did on our first album, “depths” to a whole different level. That seems to be their niche. For us, were clearly shooting for the more aggressive and fast paced elements of death metal like on our newer stuff now.

So, Contagion is now out, and was recorded with a considerably different line up than Depths– what happened with Jeremy Carrol- who founded Oceano and Andrew Mikhail that prompted them to leave?

AW: Its essentially old news that we like to kinda just not give a fuck about anymore, but it gets asked alot, so yah. Jeremy was kicked out due to personal conflicts. Andrew, essentially was contemplating leaving, so we essentially allowed him to. Beyond that, its not worth the deep detail. I feel the lineup we have now is what we needed from the start.

Where did you get new guitarists Nick Conser and Devin Shidaker? Are they local Chicago guys?

AW: Nick is Local yes. He was a friend of the band who played in another Local band in our area. Devin is not so local as he resides in Ohio. We met him a few times on our first couple tours starting out, and two years after playing with his old bands, he’s a part of Oceano. haha.

Contagion is a concept album that seems to embrace the popularity of Zombies and such in pop culture- can you further elaborate on the concept of Contagion?

AW: The concept was not written with that intent though. Though I am a fan of all that stuff, It really is not about “zombies.” The people in the story actually are just infected humans. They are not the walking dead and are just as vulnerable as anyone else. Above all its a story about a corrupt government with a hidden agenda, who scares the population into enslavement by spreading their own man made viruses. The album is a concept that I feel plays on the true reason for politics, which is the control of society.

Is the writing process for a concept album any different that a regular album?

AW: Oh! Its dreadful! Haha. There was literature and video research involved. I gave myself the task of writing an outline of events. Then I composed a short story linking all of the events in our album in detail. This was then followed by a summarized version which I picked key events and topics to be used in each specific song. The outline and summary of events was given to my band mates to draw any inspiration musically as I took these preparations and brainstormed ideas for each song. I spent hours and a few times a day or two (per song) to write this album. I don’t take lyrical writing lightly, so I truly hope people do read and think deep about what this album is about.

On Depths you had the title track and “Abysm”, two more introspective, instrumental and dare I say melodic tracks, and on Contagion you have “Exist in Confinement”, a similarly ‘mellow’ track. Do you try and write in a few breathers on each album on purpose?

AW: Its not that we wanted a “breather track” both times we were just into the idea of having a song that allows us to stray away from all the chaos of what we normally play. It gives us the chance to push our creativity in a different direction, while still keeping the feel of the overall album. I feel that’s a challenge in itself but in the end we have lots of fun doing so. Fans seem to dig the short lived change in pace, and that’s awesome.

That being said the albums ends suddenly with “Ending Intellect” rather than the outro of “Abysm”.How do you feel about Contagion compared to Depths? On surface value it seems to be the same heavy as hell Oceano

AW: To me, its not a matter of opinion, its fact, on Contagion you’re hearing an improved Oceano. We didn’t try to stuff the album full of breakdown after breakdown. They’re Surely STILL there, but this is not the overall measurement of heaviness. We had the intent to consciously write music before worrying about “this needs to sound heavier” or whatever. Thats where I feel we topped Depths. We wanted to write a good Metal album and let the heavy speak for itself through the entire album, not just certain parts. Its also alot more Death metal influenced than the last, and im happy I can say that.

So, I hope I’m not getting to personal here, but an African American in metal is somewhat of a rarity, though not as much as it was. I’ve always been curious as to how a person such as your self avoided the hip hop culture that’s forced down the throats of African American youth culture, and what got you into the path of metal.

A: Haha. This is a good question! Ive lived in the inner city and very close to that culture alot of my life. I guess my salvation lies in the fact that growing up I personally never cared to listen to music. I was too busy outside all the time with friends getting into trouble, and playing sports. I felt sitting in a room all by myself listening to sounds was rather stupid. When I got older, getting into alot of the more aggressive sports I did, I needed something to match that. So when I was first exposed to Heavy Music, it automatically felt like the perfect match to my personality. It also seems like it required alot more talent from not just ONE, but a group of people to pull it off which I respected, and still do.

http://www.myspace.com/oceano

Listening to album opener “Precursor to Enslavement” one will instantly see why this could be considered a continuation of Depths. While strong by it self as an opener it loses momentum and falls flat. Next we have “Viral Re-Animation” and this is probably one of the more enjoyable songs on the album. Introducing a bit of flair with the demonic talking parts before some nasty as fuck breakdowns hit. One of the key features they experiment with on this album is of the brutal death metal genre. A lot of the new songs contain flourishes and influences from the brutal death metal standpoint, which is now highly noticeable in the way the songs are delivered “Exist in Confinement” is also a strong track melodic yet crushingly heavy. Funny thing is that there are no vocals in this song besides the spoken part. Kind of reminds one of older metalcore bands meaning it has that emotional edge. With most bands an almost instrumental track could make or break an album. It makes one wonder why they don’t experiment like this more often. Video single “Weaponized” is up next and it is a good track that still retains that Oceano sound that we all know and love. The rest of the album from the savage and brutal “Sadistic Experiments” and the album ending track “Ending Intellect,” Oceano have constructed a good yet slightly generic deathcore album.

The theme for this album as one could see is basically viruses, terrorism, chemical warfare, the end of humanity etc. The lyrics are biting and full of hate and in reality these are the views an album of this nature should express. Of course everyone will touch base on how their not original but when listening to the album one will find out that talking about puppies and girl problems wouldn’t exactly work either. Though for some this does work not mentioning who though.

Everything sounds amazing on this record from the guitars and drums to the bass and vocals everything is top notch. I wish the songs were a little more diverse but all in all definitely an album to jam if one is feeling the need for a heavy fix.

OCEANO are proud to announce the first dates for their Contagion Across The Nation Tour (presented by Outburn Magazine). This is the Billboard-charting deathcore act’s first solo headlining run in North America as well as their first tour after the release of their new album, CONTAGION. Helping OCEANO spread their sickness throughout North America will be their friends CHELSEA GRIN, ATTILA, IN THE MIDST OF LIONS and MONSTERS.

WARNING: Fans exposed to the Contagion Across The Nation Tour may experience sudden cases of whiplash, arm and leg discomfort, broken noses, constant bruising, exhaustion, dehydration and the most devastatingly brutal time of their lives.

Catch OCEANO on their Contagion Across The Nation Tour at these dates:

11/5 Detroit, MI @ Hayloft
11/6 Indianapolis, IN @ Emerson Theatre
11/8 Allentown, PA @ Crocodile Rock
11/9 Holyoke, MA @ Waterfront
11/10 Montreal, QC @ Underworld
11/11 Providence, RI @ Jerky’s
11/12 Farmingdale, NY @ Crazy Donkey
11/13 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
11/14 Richmond, VA @ The Hat Factory
11/17 Little Rock, AR @ Downtown Music Hall
11/19 San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit
11/20 Dallas, TX @ Rail Club
11/22 Wichita, KS @ Oz Cafe
11/23 Omaha, NE @ Sokol Underground
11/24 St Paul, MN @ Station 4
11/27 West Dundee, IL @ Clearwater Theatre

More dates to be announced soon.

View the tour flyer here: http://earacherecords.com/myspace/oceanotour.jpg

To mark this momentous announcement, OCEANO have posted another BRAND NEW track off of the upcoming album CONTAGION onto their official MySpace page. “Weaponized” is a thunderous song that showcases the band’s strengths. brimming with speedy drum fills, edgy riffs, meaty breakdowns and Adam Warren‘s unmistakable growls from hell, fans will surely find this a danceable favorite on the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Listen to the NEW track, “Weaponized” at http://myspace.com/oceano

Catch OCEANO live on the run-up to the release of CONTAGION, as they head out on “The Corruptour” with WHITECHAPEL, IMPENDING DOOM, MISS MAY I and I DECLARE WAR:

Oct 01 – Macon, GA – The 567
Oct 02 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – Culture Room
Oct 03 – St. Petersburg, FL – State Theater
Oct 04 – Jacksonville, FL – Rain
Oct 05 – Spartanburg, SC – Ground Zero
Oct 06 – Charlotte, NC – Tremont Music Hall
Oct 07 – Raleigh, NC – Volume 11 Tavern
Oct 08 – Norfolk, VA – Norva
Oct 09 – Jermyn, PA – Eleanor Rigby’s
Oct 10 – Hartford, CT – Webster Theater
Oct 12 – Boston, MA – Harper’s Ferry
Oct 13 – Poughkeepsie, NY – The Chance Theater
Oct 14 – Syracuse, NY – Lost Horizon
Oct 15 – Toledo, OH – Headliner’s
Oct 16 – Grand Rapids, MI – Intersection
Oct 17 – Elgin, IL – Mad Maggies
Oct 19 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave
Oct 20 – St. Louis, MO – Pop’s
Oct 21 – Louisville, KY – Headliners Music Hall
Oct 22 – Nashville, TN – Rocketown
Oct 23 – Birmingham, AL – Zydeco

View the Corruptour flyer at http://earacherecords.com/myspace/corruptour.jpg

Produced by Zeuss (MUNICIPAL WASTE, THE ACACIA STRAIN, HATEBREED, SHADOWS FALL), the new album, CONTAGION spreads in North America November 9th. Take one look at the track list and fans will get a brief taste of the destructive tale to be unfolded within:

01. Precursor To Enslavement
02. Viral Re-Animation
03. Regulated Disposal Of Life
04. Quarantine
05. The Contaminated
06. Exist In Confinement
07. Persuasive Oppression
08. Weaponized
09. Sadistic Experiments
10. Remnants Aflame
11. Ending Intellect

OCEANO is giving fans the chance to win an iPad. That’s right! A brand-spanking-new iPad is up for grabs. All fans must do is go to http://earache.com/uswebstore/index.php/cPath/667_672_698 and pre-order CONTAGION. Pre-order the album on its own, with a hoodie, a shirt or any other configuration that can be conceived. As long as the pre-order is made through the EARACHE US WEBSTORE, fans will automatically be entered into a drawing to win.

View the contest flyer here: http://earacherecords.com/myspace/ipad.jpg

Follow OCEANO on Twitter: http://twitter.com/oceanometal

‘Like’ OCEANO on Facebook: http://facebook.com/oceanometal

Admittedly, Oceano are not doing anything remotely inventive or creative within the confines of the much maligned genre, and those that indeed despise the genre, aren’t going to find anything here to change their minds. However, like Whitchapel’s This is Exile  and Carnifex’s The Diseased and the Poisoned last year, Depths does everything absolutely right and delivers it with a truly fierce and brutishly uncompromising presentation.

Though adhering strictly to deathcore paradigms (which really don’t need to be recounted here do they?), they have a death metal back bone, and they have a certain sense of brooding menace, palpable intensity and musical maturity that many of their younger, more jovial and clichéd peers lack. Vocalist Adam Warren is responsible for much of the mood with a deeper than thou bellow and the guitars of Andrew Mikhail and Jeremy Carroll often have a controlled, restrained sense of depth and heft amid the expected blast beats and breakdowns. Also, the death metal tone, theme and lyrics isn’t completely forced and over the top like say Suicide Silence or Annotations of an Autopsy (we get it, you want to be considered a death metal band). To top things off, Joey Sturgis’ (Chiodos, At The Throne of Judgment, The Devil Wears Prada), production rounds things off with a super thick, robust production that highlights all the above elements.

On top of the overall mood of the material, while Oceano do certainly deliver the expected, predictable mix of blast beats and thunderous breakdowns, they do stand above many of their peers with a far more lucid approach to songs that actually come across as songs not just breakdowns littered with random blast beats. Tracks like “A Mandatory Sacrifice”, truly devastating  “Samael the Destroyer”, “District of Misery” ‘Empathy for Leviathan”, “Plague Campaign”, bonus track “Involuntary Demoralization” and the almost Dimmu Borgir orchestral intro of “With Legions” are simply huge sounding and well written with a sense of restraint that their more childish, stuttering, spastic peers simply don’t have and all this instantly elevates Oceans into the genre’s very heaviest and best almost effortlessly. And while a couple of more delicate instrumentals (the surprisingly adept an introspective 6 ½ minute “Depths” and closer “Abysm”) show the bands softer side, they are still well crafted and hefty, just sans vocals.

Ultimately though, I’m sure this review comments section will be split between “This is awesome son, the breakdowns are fucking balls, yo” to “This is retarded wigger slam shit”. Ensuring the split between fans and that deathcore stays the red headed step child of death metal, despite impressive, truly heavy albums like this.

And just incase you had any doubts about it, MIKHAIL finishes, “We’re most
definitely shooting for this CD to be one of the heaviest and darkest CDs
around!”

DEPTHS, the debut album from OCEANO, is being recorded with producer JOEY
STURGIS (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, MY CHILDREN MY BRIDE) at The Foundation
Studios in Connersville, Indiana, and will feature artwork from COLIN MARKS
(STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, ABORTED, WHITECHAPEL).

Due to be released in early 2009, DEPTHS will contain 13 tracks of the
angriest deathcore cuts ever committed to record, alongside a limited
edition bonus DVD, and will also be available as a limited edition version
with 2 exclusive bonus tracks. The track listing for DEPTHS is as follows:

01. Descent
02. Inhuman Affliction
03. Empathy For Leviathan
04. Plague Campaign
05. Fractured Frames, Scattered Flesh
06. Disgust For Your Kind
07. Depths
08. District Of Misery
09. With Legions
10. Slaughtered Like Swine
11. A Mandatory Sacrifice
12. Samael The Destroyer
13. Abysm

Catch OCEANO “Bringin’ the Beef” live at the following shows:

31 Oct 2008 – Kenosha, Wisconsin – Halloween Show at The Unity Lodge
07 Nov 2008 – Chicago, Illinois – The Boiler Room
08 Nov 2008 – Jackson, Michigan – The Wesley Hall
09 Nov 2008 – Palos Hills, Illinois – Damaged
14 Nov 2008 – McHenry, Illinois – Just For Fun Roller Rink
15 Nov 2008 – Springfield, Illinois – Blacksheep Cafe

For more OCEANO news and info, head to http://www.myspace.com/xoceano

OCEANO’s debut album, DEPTHS will contain 13 tracks (15 in Japan) of the angriest deathcore cuts ever committed on record alongside a limited edition bonus DVD. DEPTHS is due for release in 2009.

OCEANO will be heading into the studio this October to record DEPTHS with producer Joey Sturgis (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, MY CHILDREN MY BRIDE) at The Foundation Studios in Connersville, IN.

An OCEANO show is like walking into the angriest place on earth. Go and “bring the beef” with the band at these dates:

Sep 13 2008 3:00,P The Coffee Pot, Chicago, Illinois

Sep 20 2008 6:00,PThe 803, Marion, Indiana

Sep 21 2008 6:00PM,Iss Q’sft. Wayne, Indiana

Sep 27 2008 5:00PJERAPOLOOZA 2, Wood dale, Illinois

Oct 31 2008 5:30P HALLOWEEN SHOW/COSTUME PARTY @ The Unity Lodge

Kenosha, Wisconsin

See the photos that caused an uproar. They were too gruesome for

MySpace (who BANNED them within minutes) and got OCEANO BANNED from

several venues around the country! You can’t find them anywhere else but right here:

http://earache.com/public/andy.jpg
http://earache.com/public/adam.jpg
http://earache.com/public/danny.jpg
http://earache.com/public/jeremy.jpg
http://earache.com/public/kevin.jpg
View photos and hear the sheer guttural heaviness of the “heaviest, most pissed off band on the planet” before they’re BANNED from MySpace completely! http://www.myspace.com/xoceano
Read a brand new Q&A with OCEANO guitarist, Andrew Mikhail at
http://www.earache.com/bands/oceano/oceano.html

Buy the brand new OCEANO t-shirt. The shirt is plain black with
silver

foil writing on both sides. It features the OCEANO logo on the front

and their motto, “Bringin The Beef” on the back. Ordering information

and pictures of both sides of the shirt can be found on the EARACHE

U.S. WEBSTORE: http://www.earachestore.com/store/oceano.html