…And Oceans are a band with quite the history, who returned after a few years of inactivity. They started in 1995 and after a decade they changed their name to Havoc Unit, which they kept until 2013 when they stopped all activities. They were reunited in 2017 and “Cosmic World Mother” is the first full-length since then and fifth overall with this name, sixth if we count another one as Havoc Unit. Their discography has also many splits, collections, demos and one EP.
The reason for the different name was the change in the band’s musical direction. From symphonic black metal in the beginning they went to an industrial/electronic metal style, which fortunately for my ears does not continue here. So back to their original style, which was probably obvious as they choose their original name and logo.
“Cosmic World Mother” is a devastating symphonic black metal album. The tempos remain high almost all the time with non-stop drumming. The mid-tempo points are very few, but they give some awesome melodies when they exist. Symphonic elements are also present at every point in the release, complementing the music instead of driving it, while the industrial influences mentioned in the Season Of Mist Press Release are fortunately limited to just one track and for a very short time.
The only break in the album is a short instrumental that has only keyboards. Also, the last one “The Flickering Lights” is the only pure mid-tempo track on the album. The vocals are focused towards a death metal style and the person responsible for them is the newcomer Mathias Lillmåns (Finntroll, Chthonian, Festerday etc.) who does a very good job. The production is excellent and the impressive cover is the best they have had so far.
In general, the Finns have returned very dynamically and “Cosmic World Mother” I think justifies their choice to reunite. An unstoppable symphonic black metal album, which fans of the genre should check immediately.
