Metalcatto
…And Oceans has had a quiet and interesting return from the dead. It even released As in Gardens, So in Tombs, an album that could’ve made it to any serious ranking in 2023. It was a fascinating take on rough MeloBlack that borrowed heavily from ’90s Swedish Black Metal, yet still carried its own deeply depressing and personal touch. So here we are with The Regeneration Itinerary, and hopefully the album will keep regenerating (yes, pun intended) the band’s renewed career. Otherwise, I’m strong enough to be disappointed. Let’s get to it, kids.
The Regeneration Itinerary sounds quite a bit like its predecessor—so much so that I found myself struggling with how to talk about it without simply saying, “It’s more of the same.” But there are subtle differences. For one, there are far more electronic elements here. Honestly, some of them made me giggle. Imagine being in the middle of a cathartic, soul-wrenching depressive breakdown—and suddenly, a Dutch rave breaks out mid-track to remind you that maybe you should go out dancing one of these nights. Fortunately, as the album progresses, these elements begin to integrate more smoothly with the rest of the music.
…And Oceans remains a band that, for all its strange turns and stylistic shifts, still places beefy guitar riffs at the center of each track. And that’s no different here. The guitar work is strong and memorable—so much so that it could easily carry the album on its own. It channels that old-school Dissection vibe: frigid, aggressive, and genuinely evocative of the icy cruelty of the Baltic Sea in winter. Yet, this time around, the band leans further into a more ethereal and almost spiritual tone, giving the album a different emotional texture than anything else it’s put out.
Can anyone look into the camera?
Credit where it’s due: the band is clearly trying to change something. I already mentioned the Techno-Metal interludes as oddball experiments, but the real challenge with this album lies in its pacing. Even though the tracks aren’t particularly long, they feel extended because each one relies heavily on just one or two core ideas. Add to that the fact that the album has twelve tracks that are fairly similar to one another, and it all tends to blend into a single colossal wall of sound. Speaking of walls—what’s going on with the production? It’s raw and at times almost true kvlt in tone, which is striking but not necessarily new.
Despite my misgivings about certain creative choices, I still find The Regeneration Itinerary to be interesting. After all, no other band really sounds like …And Oceans, which means its only competition is itself. It might not hit the same highs as As in Gardens, So in Tombs, but it does just enough to keep the formula from going stale. Most bands of this age probably should’ve been put down by now for their own good, but in the case of …And Oceans, it feels like its golden years may still be ahead.
Label: Season of Mist
Release date: 23 May, 2025
Website: https://www.facebook.com/andoceans/
Country: Finland
Score: 3.3/5.0
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