Evolving before our grateful ears with much evidence of persistently progressive instincts at work, The Ocean have steadily transformed from one of many bands doggedly bobbing in the noisy slipstream of Isis and Neurosis to one of the most genuinely fascinating bands on the planet. The deal was stridently clinched with 2008’s double-disc Precambrian, a sprawling and inventive affair that revealed the bipolar nature of the Germans’ artistry, veering from the brutish polyrhythms of its first part to the meandering atmospheres of its second. But despite clearly and audibly being the work of the same band, Heliocentric treads an entirely different path and leads the dedicated listener into remarkably bold and carefree territory, with a much greater emphasis on vocal melodies and bona fide hooks and a stunning amount of subtlety within the arrangements that has more to do with Katatonia, Radiohead or much-revered UK proggers Oceansize than it does with, say, Cult Of Luna. On songs like the blissfully undulating ‘Ptolemy Was Wrong’, the piano-led and string-drenched ‘Epiphany’ and multi-layered, bombastic opener ‘Firmament’ still adhere to the overpowering sonic fullness that typified the band’s earlier records, but there is a line drawn in the sand here, indicating a massive tangential shift into a more thoughtful, adventurous and satisfying musical realm, as The Ocean’s cinematic qualities are newly-rendered in an eye-wrenching three dimensions. What is even more thrilling is that this is merely the first of another two-part extravaganza, with a second album, Anthropocentric, due later in 2010. That gives us all six months or so to truly absorb this relentlessly compelling first instalment.
