OCEAN SLEEPER: A DEEP DIVE IN TO NEW MUSIC
Image by Ocean Sleeper
Ocean Sleeper has been very hard to ignore these past few months. The new 5-track EP ‘Is It Better Feeling Nothing’ is making sure you pay full attention. It’s demanding it, in fact. ‘Is It Better Feeling Nothing’ is the perfect culmination of everything they’ve been as a band over the years, while seamlessly amplifying it to a whole new level.
And by the way, it’s bloody heavy.
The group have come a long way since their first release in 2016. Listening to all their material in the past, you would be forgiven for thinking they’re a completely different band. You’d also be forgiven if you found yourself thinking back to partying with your friends at an Emo Night listening to their previous work.
The opening track serves as a warning. Things are different this time. You are not in the same place with them as you may have been before. The first 45 seconds are a statement; dystopian electronica, blast beats and a breakdown heavy enough to make a venue shake. Moments like this are everywhere in this EP.
Although they’re now sonically swinging haymakers, the tried and true anthemic choruses have not gone anywhere. Singalongs in songs like ‘King Of Nothing’ and ‘Your Love I’ll Never Need’ are some of the best in their discography. If moshing isn’t your forte, breakdowns and riffs still have great groove and bounce, with all of them enough to get your head nodding at a minimum. Electronic elements are also balanced to expert levels, having their moments when it is needed while giving support underneath everything coming from the band themselves.
This EP delivers big time through your headphones. Experiencing it live will prove to be memorable.
‘Is It Better Feeling Nothing’ has come as a sort of revelation for the Gippsland-based four-piece, who have delivered a piece of work that stands up and hangs with the absolute best of modern Australian metalcore and among the world’s best.
The Ocean Sleeper identity has truly evolved.
FFO: Polaris, Thornhill, Windwaker, Mirrors, We Came As Romans.
Ocean Sleeper is here in Adelaide this Friday night at Lion Arts Factory, with Thousand Below (USA), Earth Caller, Inertia and 23/19. Tickets available here.
Words by Brad Rankin.