Artist: Oceansize
Album: Self Preserved while the Bodies Float Up
Release: 2010
“This is how the wars get started”
Let it be known – with this record, I have reached a personal milestone. Drum roll please… I now own an album with a pair of breasts on the cover. Now at the time when I purchased Oceansize’s latest opus, I had no idea of this fact. It was only when I had the album in my hand that it dawned on me as to what I was looking at – and only when I flipped through the flipbook-style inlay of the record featuring a rotating naked headless manikin. The image itself is a beautiful way to showcase what the Manchester, England five-piece is aiming to achieve with Self Preserved while the Bodies Float Up. I am reminded of the classic Joy Division cover of Unknown Pleasures and the music itself only adds to this idea. Oceansize takes a bit of a departure from the mellower sound they developed on their last record and replace it with a kind of Mastodon-meets-Joy Division-esk wall of sound with some Nirvana thrown in for good measure. There’s not a single moment on Self Preserved while the Bodies Float Up that lets you relax. It’s a powerful record that can swallow you whole if you let it and aims to leave its listener guessing what will be coming next. We have shifts that vary from Robert Fripp-esk soundscapes to mind crushing guitar riffs. Not even I could have predicted the inclusion of a female vocalist on A Penny’s Weight. The guitar work on Self Preserved while the Bodies Float Up deserves a special mention as well. Oceansize have managed to capture some of the most apocalyptic doomy riffs I have ever heard. Complemented with a the sounds of an orchestral style piano and vocalist Mike Vennart’s calm yet powerful style of singing make this album something special. One gets a sense of swimming through concrete when listening to Self Preserved while the Bodies Float Up. All its sharp cutting gravel will scratch you and the tar will stain you but when all is said and done, you were glad you took the dive. But with how bloated with sound this record is, I wouldn’t recommend starting with Oceansize’s latest. If you are new to the band, take their 2007 release Frames for a spin and ease yourself into their unique style of chaos. It’s the calmer complement to this unrelenting record. But really you can’t do wrong with this band. Oceansize is one of the rising stars of the progressive world and should not be ignored.
