Things were already heating up at Cafe Campus when I arrived. The Ocean is not a band you want to miss on their headlining tour. The merch line was already growing exceedingly longer than the beer line.
I quickly headed up to the best vantage point above the stage, finding out later on, to my advantage, that it was the best place to hear the vocals.
Shy,Low, a four-piece signed to the same label, Pelagic Records as The Ocean, made sense once they began. Shy, Low’s shoegaze atmospheric slow burn captivated the audience. I could appreciate it, but I believe I was just too eager to get to the main event. The musicianship was on point, with each member of the band contributing to the overall sound. A short set left plenty of time for The Ocean.
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die
Sometimes you get thrown a curveball, and this band was it. With such a long name, I’ll only write it once. This five-piece indie, emo space rockers from Connecticut had a tough job to win over this audience. If you are already a fan, it made sense. Otherwise, I wasn’t sold on their sound. Maybe it was just the overall sound at the venue this evening; it was a soupy mess of the many vocals coming from the stage, which increasingly got more annoying through their set. I couldn’t hear what was being sung, so it was hard to gauge a response besides indifference. They played their hearts out regardless, and their stage presence was stellar and very interactive. They managed to win some people over on musicianship, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea, I guess.
The Ocean
The Ocean (Collective) went through over 40 members from its conception in the early 2000s, finding a permanent lineup years later, steering the band’s lyrical content into anti-Christian rhetoric, evolving into the machine they are today, just like their complex concept albums. Delivering us part three on this tour, Holocene, was the most subdued of the three.
With their post-progressive avant-garde metal sound, they stand out in the sea of comparable bands. Right from the first song, fans were just as enmeshed in the music as the band. Just like an ocean’s ebb and flow, the crowd reflected the intense nature of their hypnotizing sound. They played five new songs, sprinkling in the best of the previous Phanozoic I and II and Palagial and Precambrian albums with strobing lights for full effect and smoke enveloping the stage, engaging all of us in the full atmospheric visuals.
Singer Loic Rosetti’s absolute love and humble attitude for what he’s creating, no wonder Montreal can’t get enough. He jumped into the crowd several times, intensifying the crowd’s response each time. It was a pretty sold-out show by the looks of it. Where the vocals were lacking tonight, the crowd made up for it and sang every word.
In awe of our loyalty and energy, the band has already teased on social media that they’d be back soon. I hope so because that was an unforgettable show for the books.
Review – Sam Morris
Photos – Kieron Yates
