Heavy Song of the Week is a feature on Heavy Consequence breaking down the top metal, punk, and hard rock tracks you need to hear every Friday. This week, we highlight the new single “Belligerence” from The Ocean.
This week was difficult, with three songs dropping that in other weeks would have handily taken the top spot. Two of those, however, being the newest singles from Anthrax and Mastodon, see bands we’ve quite recently given the top nod, clearing the way for The Ocean to slide in with “Belligerence,” the second single from their phenomenal Solaris due out later this year. This one clocks in at over 10 minutes in length but, despite that, forgoes the typical construction The Ocean have wielded in the past for longer tracks, instead having a lot of riff changes and pivots in the mood and color of the music.
It seems to contain a universe of sound, opening almost like a hardcore track before having tight thrash or technical death elements before getting to a doomier prog section nearly 7 minutes in that finally sounds like The Ocean as we knew them before. The gambit of the band to reboot their lineup, both freeing up the former members to pursue other projects and life beyond the perennial cult favorite group as well as taking in fresh blood to pursue new ideas, has paid off in spades.
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By the end of the time of the lineup The Ocean debuted on the Heliocentric / Anthropocentric albums, they had developed an established sound that was verging on predictability, even if it hadn’t delivered a dud yet. “Belligerence” shows them take on new harmonic ideas, new approaches to riffing, a new vocal attack with both a female and male vocalist delivering harsh vocals that dig into each other like warring harpies, all adding up to a sound that is as dynamic, forceful, and heavy as ever, just a bit more in-step with modern ideas.
Honorable Mention
Anthrax – “The Edge of Perfection”
This was a genuine jaw-dropping moment for me. I’ve always liked and respected Anthrax, but I’ve found it difficult to consistently connect with their music in the same way I have with the other Big Four, albeit loving them when I do. “The Edge of Perfection” sounds like a completely new band. The opening and the chorus give more than a whiff of Deafheaven and their influence on heavy music, while the verses bridge the gap between thrashers and the thrash-ballad format pioneered by Metallica. Combine this with a sly little planed minor chord black metal trick in the middle of the chorus and vocals that are genuinely the best that have appeared on any Anthrax record thus far and it reads not only as a capable peer of Testament’s similar more death and black metal driven present but also like the result of two or three albums that time forgot, a quantum leap in Anthrax’s sound over 40 years into their career. It wouldn’t just be remiss to not mention them, it would be a fundamental lie given the title of the column.
Mastodon – “Snakes for Dinner” feat. Josh Homme
Even as an ardent defender of Mastodon post-Crack the Skye, it’s hard not to view that record as a watershed release for them not just in terms of mainstream presence but also sonic approach, seeing them polish their edges to take the mantle of a heavy metal Genesis or swaggering Yes. “Snakes for Dinner,” alongside earlier single “Your Ghost Again,” feels like it belongs to that magical early period of the band from Call of the Mastodon to Blood Mountain, cheekily referenced here with the vocal reference to “Hearts Alive,” the monumental 13-minute epic from Leviathan. This song is at once heavier and more explicitly prog than their recent (quite excellent) albums, with João Nogueira once more being given a quite sick Moog solo owing to his official role in the band now. Mastodon, who have spent their careers transforming grief into beauty, have been perennial critical and culture darlings since their second proper LP, a streak that appears will continue unbroken given the beyond-superlative material shown thus far from Marrow Deep.
Psycroptic – “Ashes of a New Dawn”
Technical death metal is so satisfying when done correctly. Avoiding the endless repetition of aimless sweep picking and speed that ignores making a gnarly ass riff, you get music that’s both wildly imaginative and heavy as hell, the ideal combination for heavy metal in general in most cases. Psycroptic have a deeply balanced sound, being melodically driven without forgetting to put some really gross riffs in there, willing to groove as much as they’re willing to blast and do absurd guitar pyrotechnics, have progressive and avant-garde elements that don’t disrupt the incredible catchiness and approachability of their music. They are, like Nile and Immolation, simply unimpeachable, with every album feeling so good it reads like a comeback record from a band that never actually went away.
Servant – “Tabula Rasa” feat. P.G. of GROZA
Melodic black metal is hit or miss for me for much the same reason cleaner, more melodic metal in general is. We all love strong melodies, obviously, but it’s so easy to lose a sense of real aggression without replacing it with a genuine emotional depth. I was worried that might happen here until the vocals kicked in, providing an impassioned wolf howl, far from the sound of overly-trained screamers replicating the same vocal texture, which suddenly made the melodicism of the instruments feel anxiety-ridden in a powerful way. The song is a plea, the blastbeat the freneticism of desire.