REVIEW: Oceano – Living Chaos [2024]
Artist: Oceano
Album: Living Chaos
It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? I’m referring, of course, to the last time we got a full length record from none other than Windy City deathcore overlords Oceano. I can’t speak for everybody, but if you asked an average heavy music fan to make a “Mount Rushmore” of deathcore, there’s a damn good chance most of them would put Oceano up there—and if they didn’t make the top four, they’d better be somewhere high on the short list. At several points, Oceano have defined key movements in the maturation of deathcore as a style, whether its the awe-inspiring debut Depths or death-djent djuggernaut Ascendants, the band have flawlessly and fluidly made each release a unique and immense listening experience—something painfully few heavy bands are capable of doing. Now, in 2024, closing in on the band’s second complete decade of activity, we get Living Chaos, a crushing release bristling with all the primal fervor and voracity its name might imply. Capturing everything from punishing, punchy deathcore breakdowns for your next YouTube compilation to moments of subtle, beautiful serenity, Living Chaos is another towering testament to the band’s ingenuity—and their dedication to delivering some of the finest in heavy music the year has to offer.
Even if it has been a long time since we’ve last been graced with a full length record from Oceano, Living Chaos continues the band’s progression right where they left off. Much of the record sees the group continuing to confidently stride the line between progressive deathcore and its more punishing, destructive cousin. “Wasted Life,” the record’s pulverizing opener highlights this in excellent fashion, combining punchy, quick percussion with elements of off-putting, serene atmosphere that make the band’s ten-ton breakdowns hit that much harder. This dynamic expands even further on consideration of individual songs throughout Living Chaos’ runtime. “The Price of Pain,” for example, is a high-octane gut punch that sends the listener reeling, while the more progressive and atmospheric “Wounds Never Healed” (as well as portions of closing number, “Broken Curse” see lacerating blast beats and scathing riffs take a backseat to pulsating, mesmerizing progressive -core patterns, building on the death-djent stylings that have dominated much of Oceano’s later catalogue. Ultimately, it is how brilliantly the band can dodge and weave between these two discrete stylings that makes Living Chaos such a rich and rewarding listen. One moment, abyssal chugs shake the listener to their core—the next minute, clever and catchy electronic elements work side-by-side with stuttering guitars to take the listener back to Via-era Volumes levels of dopaminergic surge. While this might make some tracks feel somewhat noncommittal, it gives the album as a whole more variety, fluidity and replay value—Oceano do not outgrow or abandon deathcore, but rather expand on it and build on the style they’ve already honed.
It’s hard to talk about Oceano without talking about frontman Adam Warren. One of the genre’s most distinct voices, Warren’s work on Living Chaos does the otherwise outstanding efforts he has brought to Oceano justice and then some. Whether its the hearty roars that define lead single “Mass Produced” or the more heartfelt, wrenching screams on “Wounds Never Healed,” Warren’s voice continues to dominate in a no-gimmicks, no-bullshit fashion. “Wasted Life” serves a strong testament to this, as truly any of the cuts from Living Chaos does. His low end remains sprawling and sinister while his higher-register screams cut through splashy cymbals and dissonant guitars both like a heat-seeking icepick going right for the listener’s eardrums. Warren’s lyricism is also much more introspective than any Oceano release thus far, sacrificing the grotesque aggression of Depths and the extraterrestrial musings of Ascendants for something more relatable that better suits the emotive throes that define Living Chaos. Don’t worry—there’s still plenty of vitriol and aggression to be had, however.
I do have a slight bias where Oceano is concerned, as they’re historically one of my own favorite acts and have created what I consider to be the blueprint for a perfect deathcore release with Depths (and came pretty close to doing it several more times after). Superficially, it might be easy to hear Living Chaos (especially in the context of the MySpace deathcore revitalization) and be disappointed that it doesn’t hearken back more heavily to the band’s early days—but with deeper, subsequent listens, even those who were initially skeptical are likely to be swayed by its subtle beauty and intricacy. The moments it offers relentless aggression are just that—purely relentless—and counterweighted by serenity and atmosphere in perfect portions, putting more emphasis on the “progressive” aspects of the band than we as listeners have seen to date. Parts of the release seem a touch caught between Oceano’s two figurative “worlds,” but at the end of the day, Living Chaos is the logical next step in Oceano’s sonic journey—and it is one that is sure to pique interest as to what they’ll do next.
9/10
For Fans Of: To the Grave, Whitechapel, Tracheotomy, Bermuda, Humanity’s Last Breath
Connor Welsh
