On Incisions, it feels like Oceano, conceptually speaking, is stuck sword fighting a particularly noxious fart. Next time, pick something and stick to it.

Within 30 seconds of slipping this disc into my CD player I felt an urge. I just wanted to call Oceano up and tell them to stop. These deathcore bantamweights mindlessly bore and boulder through Incisions, their third record. Maybe they’re nu-metal? They sure love dat slap bass, making it rain over opener ‘Eternal Wasteland’.

‘Internal War’suffers through throat-grinder Adam Warren whispering creepy nothings in our ear. It’s got the worst case of split personality any single metal track has ever had. They crib Behemoth-style rolling blast beats before facing toward sparkly post-rock atmospherics. Where are you going, ‘Internal War’? Do you need a lie down?

Oceano are marginally better sticking to an agenda. ‘New Age Apophis’ is deathcore-by-numbers; big ole blast beats serving as bedrock to heaving blobs of guitar and breakdowns – breakdowns where guitars rest and dead air rushes through the gaps. The title track again runs loose like a kid on red cordial. Is it active rock radio fodder or a soundtrack for a sweaty, ultraviolent moshpit? As for the Chuck Schuldiner memorial instrumentals on ‘Disseverance’ – why not more of that? Why not all of that, for the entire record?

I know I said they ought to stop. They don’t need to stop forever, just pause and reflect. What kind of band does Oceano want to be?

1/5 stars

BY TOM VALCANIS

Incisionsis out now through Earache/Shock Records

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