On March 3rd of this year Personal Records will release Pale Existence, the second album by the Greek band Ocean of Grief. For those who have become immersed in the band’s debut EP My Dark Self and their debut album Nightfall’s Lament, it is an eagerly anticipated return by a band whose evolving amalgams of melodic doom and death metal have proved to be increasingly captivating.
The world has already been given a preview of what Pale Existence holds in store, thanks to the album’s first single, “Dale Of Haunted Shades“. That song, presented through an official video, was a richly multi-faceted experience — towering and vast, mysterious and mesmerizing, jolting and serpentine, sinister and seductive. Embellished by elaborate, progressive-minded variations and head-spinning guitar solos, it also delivered gargantuan vocals, visceral rhythmic power, and episodes of crushing heaviness.
Now we’ve got a further attraction to this new album through our premiere of its second single, “Unspoken Actions“, and this one features a guest solo by Jari Lindholm, whose work in such bands as Slumber and Enshine was, as the band have stated, “a major influence on their sound and one of the main reasons that Ocean of Grief were created in the first place”.
As a preview of what you’re about to hear in “Unspoken Actions“, Ocean of Grief explain: “The song takes the listener to a journey through emotions, as the grooves and melodies succeed one another, painting cloudy landscapes with little sun beams managing to break through every here and there, leaving ultimately the listener with a cathartic feeling.”
That is all true. Much like “Dale Of Haunted Shades“, this newest single follows a winding path through soundscapes of deep shade and startling light, creating visions of wonder as well as daunting menace and downfall.
Gleaming arpeggios ring like swirls of enticing chimes and spin the mind in uplift, even in the midst of skull-smacking drums and undulating bass lines. But gloom also descends with massive and momentous chords and abyssal growls, and the music also attacks in bursts of darting fretwork and clobbering percussion.
The song’s ebbs and flows are relentless, and so are the juxtapositions of gut-slugging force and high-flying, head-spinning guitar theatrics. The bass gets many chances to take the spotlight, and the interplay of the multiple guitar performances is a source of both intrigue and heart-bursting joy. For such an elaborate and ever-changing sequence of contrasts and complements, the song also holds together and flows beautifully well, and more than that, will likely stay with you long after it ends.
Even after hearing just these first two singles, it’s immediately apparent that Ocean of Grief‘s ambitions — and accomplishments — transcend the norm of the genre they’ve chosen as their own, and should appeal to fans of prog as much as it will to devotees of melodic doom and death.
Personal Records will release Pale Existence on CD and digital formats, and pre-orders are open now. Below you’ll also find that video we mentioned earlier, for the song “Dale Of Haunted Shades“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://www.personal-records.com/product/pre-order-ocean-of-grief-pale-existence-cd/
https://personal-records.bandcamp.com/album/pale-existence
OCEAN OF GRIEF:
https://www.facebook.com/oceanofgriefgr