Oceans of Night – Midnight Rising (2014)

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The USA Progressive Metal scene has been growing in the last few years, and surprisingly besides the premiere bands, there are many newcomers (or smaller bands) filled with quality like Oceans of Night. As the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Scott Mosher, “Midnight Rising” marks the third full-length release of the band and greatly shows improvement over their previous albums. Coming in at nearly one hour of music, this release combines early 90’s Progressive Metal elements with the futuristic vibe of Dol Ammad and Ayreon.

Opening with the atmospheric “The Haunted Mind”, the band seamlessly transitions into the Heavy/Power Metal elements of “Midnight Rising”. In this last track, Scott Oliva shines through the expertly crafted riffing and percussions. Breaking up the flow, the highly atmospheric “Critical Mass / The Breathless Sleep” nicely changes the pace of things before the epic “The Burning Sky”. As one of our favorite tracks in this release, the instrumental passages and guitar solos are just amazing in this one (there is a guest solo in this track by Chris Rifkin).

Alternating between short tracks (“Crashing Down”, “Is This Who We Are”) and longer pieces (“Gone Forever”, “A World Born of Fire”), the band provides a very nice balance between straightforward catchy tunes, and more complex and elaborate songs that have a stronger Progressive foundations. “Gone Forever” is another one of our favorites thanks to its tense build up, and expert melodic culmination. In terms of futuristic keyboards and intoxicating percussions, “Wherever You Are” is the song that showcases their skills the best.

Overall, “Midnight Rising” is a great improvement over “Domain”, and shows that Oceans of Night can further refine their already very solid and cohesive sound. For a trio, this band has a lot of quality music that cannot be ignored, so keep an eye out for them. If you are a fan of Ayreon, Fates Warning, Queensrÿche, etc., you should not miss this upcoming band and their expertly crafted music.

Band: Oceans of Night Album: Midnight Rising

Label: Self-Released

Release: August 1st, 2014

Oficial Site Social Media

Genre: Progressive Metal

Country: USA

Rating: 90/100
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