After the release of their well-received EP “Ghost of us All” in 2021, the American post rock duo Oll Ef dropped their 1st full length “Oceaneater” in March 18th, 2022 and as a bonus, they released a guitar play through of the entire album as well. Today, we’re going to dig deeper into “Oceaneater” so, put on your headphones and follow me.
The title track “Oceaneater” hits you first with an awesome bass and drum lines, it’s a dynamic tune with nice flow of melodies and riffs that works as a brief of what to expect from this record. Things get more progressive with “A Moment for Your Reverence” that has a heavy bass intro and heavy riffs with a certain steadiness that keeps on building until it suddenly breaks by the guitar melody around the middle, it takes another turn that keeps on progressing until it reaches its peak then ends with a calm acoustic line. At this point we can all see Oll Ef’s ability of writing beautiful melodies, “Gypsum Blind” and “Crown Pleaser” shows that they can write cool, dominant rhythms as well, these two songs have dreamy atmospheres created by those rhythms that’s layered perfectly with their significant beautiful guitar melodies and groovy bass and drum lines. “Every Instant is an Eternity of its Own” is a slow and emotional one with changes in the guitar tone that feels like it’s telling a story and one of the record’s most interesting drumlines and on top of that, it has a little twist at the last minute where it gets heavier. “There is Always Something that Connects Us” picks up the emotional mood from its predecessor and keeps us flowing for a while until we are hit with the record’s heaviest song “An All Pervading Delirium”, it’s a heavy melodic piece with great progression and dynamics that’ll keep you slowly and steadily headbanging throughout the whole song and an interesting structure that’ll keep you hooked till the end. “Our Lady of Tears” starts with a classic doomy intro that suddenly turns into a dynamic, engaging mood with an ever-changing structure that keeps it interesting and maintains it’s heaviness. The trip ends on a more hopeful mood with “City in the Sky” that gave me a dreamy feeling with its more opened sound and fluent melodies, felt like a great breeze to end the album with.
“Oceaneater” by Oll Ef is an interesting sonic experience that needs no words, their exceptional command of their instruments gave them the ability to express themselves and emotions through instrumentals filled with fluent melodies and flowing emotions, the record’s tight structures and well thought and executed dynamics made it an enjoyable one from the start till the end. Looking forward for more from Oll Ef. Cheers!
