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Rising - Oceans Into Their Graves

Label: Indisciplinarian / Earsplit Distro
Format: CD download
Released: 2016
Reviewed By: Jack Mangan
Rating: 8/ 10


Straight out of Copenhagen, the band is called Rising, which makes Googling specifically for them a bit of a challenge (try "rising band"). If 2016 will be remembered as a mudslide of Doom Metal and Stoner Metal, then their album, "Oceans Into Their Graves" is one of the better rivulets in this year's slide. The roots of this neo-Stoner movement can be traced back to Black Sabbath (as with all things Metal), but it's also heavily influenced by modern tube-amp-sound aficionados, most notably Queens of the Stone Age, The Sword, and Mastodon. The Mastodon aping is strong with Rising, especially in the drum attack and the muddy guitar sound, riffage, and slow, melodic, bending leads.

 

Please don't dismiss these guys as Mastodon clones, however. There are some interesting riffs here and there throughout, but what really excels for them are the vocal melodies. Vocalist Morten Grønnegaard doesn't boast a wide range, but he has a good-sounding regular guy tone, which he uses to great effect, singing in a low charcoal voice with occasional lighter-fluid burst of gravel. He's mostly on his own, but occasionally accentuated with subtly effective harmonies. The supporting layers are often unremarkable, but the sung pieces are consistently superb. It sounds more like this is his natural gift, as opposed to a developed skill, which adds to the organic feel of the whole thing. The songs sound more like natural rock formations than sculptures.

The entire album is a pretty smooth ride (or slide, if we want to persist with the "mudslide" metaphor). Even the weakest song, ‘Coward Heart’, is still pretty listenable.

I recommend taking the entire journey - - but for the short attention spanned, I can suggest ‘Old Jealousy’, ‘The Anger’, and ‘Death of a Giant’ as standout tracks that showcase the strong riffs and vocal melodies I praised in the last paragraph. The musical demeanor is shaded, but not nearly as dark as the presentation. The tempos never get stuck in the mud, in good or bad ways, which keeps the energy lively and refreshing. Give this one a shot.

 
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