Track Listing
1. Seventh Wave 2. Life 3. Night 4. Hide Nowhere 5. Sister 6. 3am 7. Voices In The Fan 8. Greetings 9. Regulator 10. Funeral 11. Bastard Bastard 1. Not One Of My Better Days Bastard 2. Girl From Blue City 12. The Death Of Music 13. Thing Beyond Things Year: 2000 Label: Inside Out - Official Site |
Ocean Machine - 'Biomech' - By M. Freeman
Devin Townsend, the Canadian musical maestro has come up with the goods once again, but in all honesty, are we surprised? I know I wasn't. The purpose of this record was to encompass just how the ocean would sound if made into a musical. The disc is both melodic, and yet has great size and painstaking precision that with all the samples it is hard to imagine how the sound was made so close to perfect. 'Oh earth what changes hast thou seen, there were the long street roars hath been the stillness of the central sea, the hills are shadows...' is the echoey spoken introduction to the beginning of this magnificent piece of music. 'Seventh Wave' is much like the other tracks on the album, big flashing sounds and a drum beat that would satisfy anyone. Of all the great work here, this is one of the pieces that gives great effect to the extent that you can almost imagine what Devin Townsend was thinking whilst he wrote this. It is as though the ocean is shrouding everything and taking over life outside of the sea with it's immensity. 'Life', the second track on the album, is nothing short of beautiful. It must, in my opinion, be one of the most polished songs Townsend has ever created and the emotion floods through like nothing you could ever imagine without hearing this surrounded by a powerful set of speakers. This was the first track from the album I heard, and the cost is worth it just for this alone. The samples which cloud the verses are perfect for the ocean-like sound which Townsend and Co. sought to provide and the power of the vocals, aswell as the lyrics is conveyed so beautifully that you could sit back and listen to this and all of life's pains will drain away. 'Life' could quite easily be a soundtrack to life itself. It will probably take a while to realise what you've just been through once 'Life' has finished but when you come around you will be staring 'Night' in it's face. If there's one thing about this album that stands out from any other, it is the constant sound, which often works brilliantly with the album, but I do think this particular track could have been better than it is. Don't get me wrong, there are some outstanding vocals on display in 'Night' but personally it feels like this could have been nearer the end of the album when Devin had run out of ideas, if he ever does, that is. Track number four, 'Hide Nowhere', another which concentrates on the power of the ocean, the feel of this seems to be how the ocean holds the answers to the unanswereable elements of life. The chorus which breezes in and out of the track are almost choir-like with higher pitch shrills that are truly captivating. Don't think that this track is one of a mellow direction though, it still has the huge chords and dramatic drumming which is ever present on the disc. 'Sister', and '3 a.m', tracks five and six respectively, are much calmer than what preceeds and follows, a breather from the size of the opening few pieces of music. On first listen, you might wonder if there is actually any point in these two short tracks, but the more you listen to the album as a whole, the more you realise that they are positioned perfectly as a few minutes of reflection from what has come before them. 'Time will be on my side, no looking back this time, all that I've known is gone, time to be moving on...' are the only lyrics of '3 a.m' but the meaning in those few words counts for as much as, if not more than several verses could have done. Being careful not to dive straight into another thumping beat too quickly, Townsend lets the calm flow of '3 a.m' gradually build into 'Voices In The Fan' which is yet another powerful, intricate piece. The vocals are all clean and drift gently into one another to great effect. Towards the end of 'Voices...' enters the peaceful sound of a choir, the one thing which is so hard to believe about this album is that all of the samples featured in it fit in so well to give it remarkable volume. A high pitched, mid-tempo guitar is the start of 'Greetings', the focus seems to me, that the ocean is home, our world. A different vocal style to begin with, a slightly higher voice, which helps the higher pitch guitar work to stand out, showing even more great thinking on the bands part. Once again thereare few lyrics with this one, but it never seems to matter with Townsend's work, since everything he touches manages to turn to gold no matter how high a potential it originally shows. 'Regulator' is a massive track, the drumming throughout is immense and in perfect timing with the other effects crammed into it. This is a track which experiments even more vocal range, with the use of many echoes on Devin's voice, it is one of the most promising tracks when you first listen to the record, although after increased listens all the tracks seem equally brilliant. Approaching the track's finale come the afore-mentioned clattering drums with a clamouring scream from Townsend which, as is becoming so often the case, brings a curtain over a great track in a great manner. 'Funeral' is a track which wouldn't look at all out of place as solely an instrumental piece in an epic movie soundtrack. The gradual building of sounds works nicely and it begs you to listen over and over again. The track though, does have vocals, and they do not disappoint, they are infact some of the cleanest-cut and best suited vocals on the whole disc. Different types of vocals are put to use, with gentle singing, to wails and even to echoing screams that beat with the pulse of the music amazingly. Track eleven, 'Bastard', is split into two parts. The first part is named 'Not One Of My Better Days' and holds similar vocals to some of the previous tracks. The negative part on this is that the vocals seem somewhat shadowed by the music, the music, while good, just feels that bit too grandeur for the vocals and leaves parts of Townsend's singing slightly drowned (excuse the pun) by the music. It is, however, a good five minutes of music which lead promisingly into the second part of the track named 'The Girl From The City'. The second section carries a similar mood to that of the first and the music does again slightly outweigh the vocal power, although I'm sure that's fully intentional. 'The Death Of Music' is very atmospheric, whilst not trying to be powerful throughout like the most part of the album. A steady drum with snare-like sampling are the tempo setter for the track. Townsend allows his vocal power to be heard fully over the music here and the singing is nothing short of majestic. Weighing in at twelve minutes, this is the longest track on Biomech, and it needs to be, the track wouldn't be the same if any of it's features were taken from it and so 'The Death Of Music' is a fitting piece to sit back, listen and reflect life to. A bonus track is not an unfamiliar feature among Townsend's work, some of which seem obscure and pointless while others seem as though they should be in the thick of the album. This particular piece 'Things Beyond Things' is in it's rightful place, at the end, but at the same time deserves all the time it needs to convey it's emotion. This is, in effect, a love song, with lyrics such as 'I'd set my girl, and I knelt down by her head, and lay roses in her hair, and I kissed her gently, but this is what you are, as the sun sets in my eyes I know...' it's another mood changing musical for reflection. The peaceful melody reaches an end leaving the listener relaxed, all but for the scorching scream which follows. Biomech, words cannot describe it well enough so you just have to listen, and keep listening, and before you know it you won't want to stop listening, that is how captivating the album is as a whole. One thing is for sure, this album does not belong in the ocean, it belongs right here on the earth where it can be found by those who appreciate truly magnificent music. A musical gem. Metal Obsessive Grade: 90% |