Don’t you just hate it when you start to get into a band who have a fairly long career path and they promptly split up. That is exactly what happened to me with Finns …And Oceans when I got caught up with the cyber-industrial, Godfleshian, Kovenant, trance rave of ‘Cypher’ in 2002. Proving, as the song declared that “this world is fragile” they promptly combusted. Honestly, blowing the dusts of time of that particular album the clues were all there and perhaps I should have taken note from lyrics stating “fade away, we all fade away” seen that the end was on the cards. Little did I know back then though that it would be a full 18 years before the group reconvened and followed it up with ‘Cosmic World Mother’ in 2020. But back they were containing some of the original clan along with varied new-blood and reverting more to the symphonic styled blackness that their sound derived from back in the mid 90’s.
With six band members all going for it, hell for leather and almost an hour’s worth of music (on the expanded edition) you can, as the reviewer of last album stated, be left feeling a bit overwhelmed here. It’s a case of digging deep and finding the subtle elements under the whirling, windswept maelstrom of the main tracks, such as a creepy and ghoulish section which suddenly leads us very much into the tombs of the opening, album entitled track. The drive of the music is admirably augmented by the wild growls and roars from Finntroll (etc) frontman Mathias Lillmåns and there is an undeniably ravenous vibe throughout things. “Humanity’s energies toward enlightenment” is apparently the main theme here and the fact that wherever you are in the world and whatever your traditions are, you will strive to the same end goals. It certainly leads to some intriguing song titles such as ‘The Collector and His Construct’ and the quantum mechanics of ‘Inverse Magnification Matrix.’ It’s as intelligent as enlightened realms explored by the likes of Borknagar.
Melody is strong, symphonic elements on the whole not too overbearing and one can get a good sense of how the group can and hopefully will pull things off live on tour without relying too heavily on sampled parts. The snappy and snarly ‘Carried On Lead Wings’ bites savagely but does not forget to inject some grandiosity into proceedings as it soars off into the sky, even including some filmic keyboards sounding like they have escaped from a long-lost fantasy score. Then there’s the icebound sparkly flow of ‘Likt törnen genom kött’ which really transports you to magical kingdoms of frost along with feelings of nostalgia and romanticism. It’s easy to see why ‘Cloud Heads’ was chosen as lead single here, it’s a rousing thumper with great moments of swirling majesty. Slightly more deathly vocally at first there’s a bit of Hypocrisy about ‘Water Into Wine’ before it romps off and the previously mentioned ‘Inverse Magnification Matrix’ has a bit of that sideshow Arcturus carnival chaos about it. All bases are being touched but wrapped up with their own unique stylings. By the end of the tenth and tempestuous track ‘Ambivalent God’ you certainly feel bloated and like you have had a full-on experience which will last over many further plays…
…But there is more, at least on my download of the album as we get two further tracks. Particularly notable is ‘Samlarens Valv’ which sounds like it could be an old song and has a real thrashy mindset. I’m not sure what the genesis of these extras are but they could certainly entice fans to go the extra mile and pick up the limited edition of the album.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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