There's more?! I'm still recovering from the off-beat snare hits on "Jurassic | Cretaceous". I don't know if I'll survive this release tbh.

Fingers crossed that it'll be better than their last one. It may be a very unique opinion, but for me, everything that came after Jurassic|Cretaceous felt kinda irrelevant, unfinished and/or random. And even Triassic and Jurassic|Cretaceous were far from the best this band has to offer. I was really disappointed and even with further spins, nothing on this album grew on me.

Preboreal isn't really pushing my optimism here...

Written by Jon Irenicus on 07.02.2023 at 12:23

Fingers crossed that it'll be better than their last one. It may be a very unique opinion, but for me, everything that came after Jurassic|Cretaceous felt kinda irrelevant, unfinished and/or random. And even Triassic and Jurassic|Cretaceous were far from the best this band has to offer. I was really disappointed and even with further spins, nothing on this album grew on me.

I'm inclined to agree, although I do think Jurassic|Cretaceous is one of their best songs; I was pretty positive with my review of the last one in giving it an 8.4, but to be honest it's not had anywhere like the staying power for me that Phanerozoic I did, and a lot of the hard carrying was done by the first songs. I certainly don't dislike it, but it's a bit insubstantial following 2 awesome records preceding it, so I hope this is a bit closer to Pelagial/Phanerozoic I

Written by Jon Irenicus on 07.02.2023 at 12:23

Fingers crossed that it'll be better than their last one. It may be a very unique opinion, but for me, everything that came after Jurassic|Cretaceous felt kinda irrelevant, unfinished and/or random. And even Triassic and Jurassic|Cretaceous were far from the best this band has to offer.

I'm sure the dinosaurs agree wholeheartedly to this as well.

Can’t wait for this

The pre-release track sounds like they'll bring back the edgy early 2000s atheism of anthropocentric and heliocentric. Which I'm honestly not too excited for. I liked the last album though so maybe it'll be good. Phanerozoic part 2 wasn't as great as part 1 but I liked a bunch of the calmer moments too. Particularly Holocene is probably my favourite track from that album (Giant Squid vibes a bit which is always good).
I mean I doubt I'll hate it, even Holo/Anthropocentric I got a lot of stuff from, even if the lyrics were being a bit insufferable sometimes.

Now that a ridiculous number of great records dropped in early March this becomes my new most anticipated

Sounds a little uninspired by the songs released so far...

I like many instrumental parts but vocals don't work for me. They are not bad but somehow I don't feel like they fit too well.

I imagine I could be in the minority, but this could be my favorite The Ocean album. The atmosphere, instrumentals, melodies and vocals completely hypnotizes.
Its softer than previous albums, but in a broader sense, such a masterpiece.

And can we talk about "Unconformities"!!!! A song of the year for sure for me.

I had mixed expectations after listening to the singles. Especially Sea of Reeds made me worry. But it works in the context of the whole record. Atlantic, Subboreal and Unconformities are all excellent songs, same as Preboreal, Subatlantic and Parabiosis. Boreal, I don't dig as much. But all in all, it's another great record from them. But it will probably alienate their fanbase, it's much calmer and hypnotic than their previous records.

I can also recommend SHRVL, the project of their keyboard player. The new record Limbus features the synths that were used in Holocene in their original compositions. Very ambient and enjoyable.

Somehow worse and better than I expected at the same time.

On first listen, there isn't anything here that will outshine Jurassic | Cretaceous, but overall, I reckon there's a good chance I will come to like this album more than Phanerozoic II, a record that I ultimately felt little inclination to return to in the aftermath of its release. The shift in focus to quiet electronica for significant portions of this album does feel like the onset of a Leprous-style trajectory, but based on this evidence it's a trajectory with the capacity to work out well. Unconformities definitely stood out on first listen

Not a bad album, but quiet boring at times compared to their last ones

This band just doesn’t disappoint for me. These last 4 albums have each been incredible to me in different ways.

The sound and production is great, and the musicians performances are solid enough, just as I expected, but for me the songwriting is just a tad bland for me. I feel like I'm missing something, maybe it will grow in time

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 19.05.2023 at 20:20

The sound and production is great, and the musicians performances are solid enough, just as I expected, but for me the songwriting is just a tad bland for me. I feel like I'm missing something, maybe it will grow in time

May just depend what you’re looking for. For me, I love the synth work and the flow of the vocals on tracks like Preboreal and Atlantic but it certainly lacks the heaviness of previous releases. That’s not as big of a deal to me but I understand why a lot of people wouldn’t like this one as much.

Written by Vellichor on 20.05.2023 at 02:08

May just depend what you’re looking for. For me, I love the synth work and the flow of the vocals on tracks like Preboreal and Atlantic but it certainly lacks the heaviness of previous releases. That’s not as big of a deal to me but I understand why a lot of people wouldn’t like this one as much.

I've given it a few more spins and I admit it's slowly grown on me. I was taken back by some slower sections at first and just wanted the heaviness to kick in, but I find the slower sections compliment the heavy much more than I first thought. In the end, it's not a bad release, not as heavy as I expected, but it's definitely an interesting journey, and in the end, decent songwriting.

Written by LeKiwi on 07.02.2023 at 03:17

There's more?! I'm still recovering from the off-beat snare hits on "Jurassic | Cretaceous". I don't know if I'll survive this release tbh.

yikes xD
How have you been enjoying this "release"?

The genre indicators are hardly fitting anymore.
As a huge post-metal fan I'm just glad that Cult of Luna is keeping the fire alive.

I have to give this another chance, but wow this is the first time I've ever been disappointed by this band. The songwriting just seems lazy in places to me. Some killer moments tho.

Started as somehwat of a letdown but it did grow on me. Not their best album, but definitely better than what appears to be

I think the album cover's an optical illusion? Just scroll up and down the page while watching it.

Eh... a bit more boring than I was expecting it to be. Phanerozoic I and II were better in my opinion. This album was not for me but it did have a couple parts I enjoyed (Atlantic and Unconformities to be specific).

Didn't expect the album to be this soft, I always liked the heavier side of the ocean. This actually sounds more like a leprous album. The songs are good though, very well written songs. Atlantic is my favourite.

Revisiting this, and enjoying it more now. But I still feel that their lyrics generally are so cringy. Love the topics and the meaning, don't get me wrong, but it is something about how they write them that just feel so pretentious and doesn't really fit with the music.