OCEAN (vinyl)

Description

Their first EP 'Amen' and two albums 'Mud' and 'Place Noire' had established 'Death Engine' as the promising standard-bearer of chaotic and dissonant French-style music. The kind that could sit at the same table as 'Breach', 'Unfold' or 'Botch', with all the potential to pave the way for a new generation hungry for saturation. Everything seemed set to last, with several tours across Europe, an appearance at Hellfest in 2015, and opening for various bands like 'Godflesh', 'Hangman's Chair', 'A Place To Bury Strangers', 'LLNN', 'Pigs'... This was without counting an unexpected but necessary hiatus in 2019. More inspired than ever, 'Death Engine' is back with a new line-up, and as a quartet, as if to rediscover the essence of their first album.This third opus is rooted in a more personal and introspective approach. The ocean represents a state of transformation and transition, symbolizing an uncertain world. For Death Engine, this new album is the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. The sometimes nihilistic aspect of their music changes to bring a new horizon.Solid but sensitive. Assuredly true, that is the watchword of Ocean. Its significant concentration of emotions is translated into a sound spectrum that gives more room to heaviness, ethereal atmospheres, and catchy melodies, as exemplified by the single "Leaden Silence". On "Pulled Down" and "Dying Alone", the saturated vocals that are the DNA of Death Engine coexist with inhabited clean vocals. The album contains its share of swirling violence, never gratuitous. "Hyperion", "Lack" or "Empire" do not skimp on the frontal and massive rhythmic foundation characteristic of the band. A definite benefit from the participation of Joris Saïdani, drummer of Birds In Row, invited behind the drums. - - Ocean is a great, great post-metal album, to start 2023 under the best auspices. With this, Death Engine marks the birth of their own label, Code Records, with a thirst for freedom and independence. While maintaining their long-standing collaboration with Throatruiner, an essential reference for aggressive and adventurous music (Fange, Plebeian Grandstand, Daggers...). See you on Friday, January 13th to celebrate this powerful return! --- Clément Duboscq ---.