Album Review: Oceanica – Panta Rhei (Prog On! Recordings)

Prog On! Recordings will release Benedict Harris-Hayes’ latest album, ‘Panta Rhei’, which is released under his Oceanica progressive rock/metal solo project. The highly anticipated follow-up to the 2019 album, ‘OneDark‘ is out on June 30th, 2023.

Benedict Harris-Hayes is a talented musician, that much must be made clear, and he continues to impress with his Oceanica output. Promising a ‘heavier’ follow-up to OneDark with Panta Rhei, that statement isn’t immediately clear with the melodramatic Photographs Found on A Old Camera. However, that’s not a complaint as this is a really pretty song with some lovely sounding melody that expands as it goes on, into something much more atmospheric. At around the halfway point, the vocals arrive and with that, a rockier tone. This is where Panta Rhei really comes to life.

It’s a bar setting track that shows the scope of imagination within Oceanica. Yet, it is just the first taste of an album with a huge amount of creativity within it. Creativity that oozes from the sinister groove of Fixation on A Co-Worker, a track that is notable for the sudden appearance of a saxophone solo and how chaotic it gets as it comes to an end.

Then there is Roll the Bones and Lumiere. The former massages the mind with its melody and haunting vocals, before a sudden eruption of empathic heaviness arrives. The way this is delivered might make you think of the likes of The Dillinger Escape Plan, which is high praise indeed. Whereas the latter is an expansive trawl through eccentric post-style melody, garish metal intensity, and burgeoning atmospheric grandiosity. A pair of stunning tracks.

One of the more straight-forward examples of heaviness is Drive Bi 69, which takes some of its props from the ‘core’ world of metal when it comes to vocal delivery. Followed then by the carefully built tension of The New Human Agenda and the impressive contrast of subtle melody and in-your-face speeding intensity of Mother of Eyes. Oceanica did promise a ‘heavier’ release and at this stage of the album, it couldn’t be clearer that is the case.

Yet, it’s not the big takeaway of the record. No, that is the imagination and creativity on display. This is progressive music that draws a ton of interesting comparisons and proves without doubt that Benedict Harris-Hayes is an extremely talented individual.

Need more proof? Check out the lavish The Hope Sequence, a contender for the most soul-enriching track of the album. Or check out the finale of Un(EN)titled, a progressive delight that leaves you feeling warm and satisfied all over.

What a step up this is for Oceanica. OneDark was a great album, but Pana Rhei is on another level completely.

Oceanica – Panta Rhei Track Listing:

1. Photographs Found on A Old Camera
2. Fixation on A Co-Worker
3. Roll The Bones
4. Lumiere
5. Drive Bi 69
6. The New Human Agenda
7. Mother Of Eyes
8. The Hope Sequence
9. Un(EN)titled

Links

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