AlbumsNovember 29, 20119,080 views

Stray From The Path Our Oceania


Our Oceania
01. The Life You Live 02. Casual Conversations 03. Solace MP3 04. Appendix 1: If There Is Hope 05. Thick and Thin 06. A Not So Modern Parasite 07. Appendix 2: ...It Lay in the Proles 08. The Great Exodus 09. Formaldehyde Kiss 10. A Tri-Colored Goldmine 11. CODA: The Nightbirds
2005 Five Point Records
Our score 5

9/28/2005

To jump right to the point, I'll say that Stray From The Path plays chaotic metal/hardcore, and they perform quite decently. However, none of this record is exciting enough to even get me interested. I wouldn't say that this is a bad record, because it's not. This band just needs some more time and experience to come into their own, and tune up the parts that fall flat. Most of Our Oceania is fast and vicious. I hear some When Forever Comes Crashing-era Converge, and some older Dillinger Escape Plan throughout this album. The songs are played with energy and ferocity but are painfully predictable. If these guys were more adept at songwriting, they could accomplish something exciting. There are moments during this record that sound as if Stray From The Path has lost control of the songs. These directionless moments really kill the album's momentum. The group can get it together via their plentiful, chugging breakdowns, only to lose it again with their chaotic parts. This band has good ideas, but seemingly lacks the ability to follow through. The heaviness of this album is interspersed with some melodic parts, which seem more cohesive. While said parts are still a bit trite, they are played with precision. There are also a couple of instrumental interludes that incorporate electronic beats and keyboards. It's a strange but memorable shift in the record's progression. I'm not sure if these parts would turn off the average listener, but I haven't heard many other bands incorporate similar "dance club" breaks into their albums. The vocal performance is strong and dynamic. It's worth mentioning that it sounds like there was good effort into keeping the vocal delivery from becoming monotonous. A higher-pitched scream is used for direct delivery, while there are some much lower growls (more on the death metal side of things). There are some very sparse moments of clean singing which I could do without, but these aren't horrible by any means. Our Oceania was produced and recorded by Joe Cincotta of Suffocation. The production is quite competent, but nothing to get excited about. The bass and one of the guitars get buried in the mix at times, otherwise the overall sound is full and powerful. Bottom Line: To my ears, this is an average metal/hardcore record. This is about as down-the-middle as it gets for me. I'm sure many other people will like Our Oceania more than I do, but the album suffers from too many good ideas and no means to execute them. Stray From The Path could become an exciting band in time, but there's not enough on this album to keep me interested.

22 comments

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thereapersson_ 9/28/2005 4:12:16 PM

First Post. pwned...

thereapersson_ 9/28/2005 4:15:41 PM

More Chaoticrap. Mp3 was alright, though the review was pretty accurate...

killemokids_ 9/28/2005 4:39:08 PM

mp3 is quite meh

DCR_ 9/28/2005 4:39:11 PM

Disagree. I'd give the CD a solid 7.5/10. I've had this CD for a couple months now and it's probably one of the better releases since. I also hear a little Ed Gein in them as well... I'd suggest people looking into the CD. Tracks 3 and 9 are the highlights.

link martelliniostowitz_ 9/28/2005 5:39:16 PM

Good album, I've been listening to it for a while. Not mediocre in any way.

gaydar_ 9/28/2005 5:50:35 PM

Are we listening to the same cd? I've had it for a few months and it kills. I'd go check out some other songs off of their myspace. They shred.

gaydar_ 9/28/2005 5:50:35 PM

Are we listening to the same cd? I've had it for a few months and it kills. I'd go check out some other songs off of their myspace. They shred.

thereapersson_ 9/28/2005 6:20:39 PM

Gotta give the track a few listens in a row to get a better feel. I still stand by my opinion about the review, but it's a little better after about the third try. Vocalist at some points reminds me of Dillinger meets The End, though not quite as commanding as either.

jerkface_ 9/28/2005 6:25:35 PM

If you're bored of technical hardcore you won't like this, but it's a very solid example of the genre. This should have been at least a 6 or 7 out of ten.

mojotfb_ 9/28/2005 7:07:17 PM

too many parts start with a single guitar and then the rest of the band blasts in. It happened at least 3 or 4 times in that one song.

thegoddamnawesome_ 9/28/2005 8:30:09 PM

judging from the mp3 it seems like it could be a lot better. review seems to be pretty dead on.

vegans_Taste_good_ 9/28/2005 11:00:52 PM

people on long island seem to c-m their pants at the name of this band, to bad they f*cking blow.

Kevin_ 9/29/2005 4:23:41 AM

I've listened to this album a few times, and I'd probably give it a 6 or so. I haven't really sat down and put my mind into really dissecting this album, but the first comparison that came to mind for me was a slighly more metallic Saetia

anonymous 9/29/2005 6:59:13 AM

the mp3 sounds very mediocre. there's some TTDTE in there as well. good review.

anonymous 9/29/2005 10:12:43 AM

i just want to take a moment to point out that basically every dude in this band is something like 17 or 18 years old. With that knowledge, take another look at this record.

Sean Loiselle_ 9/29/2005 10:49:31 AM

All of the guys in Animosity are 18 and 19, and they rip these guys a new jerk

Fart_ 9/29/2005 1:03:37 PM

post.aspx.htm

Bellusch_ 9/29/2005 1:52:26 PM

"Nine times out of ten, if your bands name is like totally wack, then so are the songs you write." That mp3 track has too many ideas and no coherence. Seems to be all the rage these days...

dfgasdfs_ 10/1/2005 11:51:00 PM

well if they are so young, they should of waited a fiew years to realsie this piece of shit.

anonymous 10/3/2005 9:22:43 AM

I can see why some people may not be into this record, but I think fans of DEP and Botch would dig it.

pretenditsfiction_ 11/12/2005 4:58:46 PM

yeah............. this is band is so talked about and on the label site, i read, it says for fans of radiohead....... definitely not radiohead worthy or even worth a second listen. if this is the future of innovative metal/ hardcore, i'm signing off.

gay_ 1/4/2007 2:11:35 AM

gay!