Pas trop négative, mais pas elle n´encense pas vraiment. Sinon, rien à foutre si l´avis général est élogieux, contente toi d´apprécier la musique pour toi au lieu de t´occuper des gouts des autres, ils en ont rien a foutre ^^
Si je devais forcer tout le monde a aimer ma musique, meme si toutes les chroniques sont bonnes... Zzzzzzzzzzz
Weird... - 78%
Written by Sean16 on May 20th, 2005
Could we expect such a piece of progressive metal from Devin Townsend, the man behind Strapping Young Lad? Considering his later pieces of work (Terria, Physicist, Accelerated Evolution...) the answer may be yes. Anyway here is his first solo album, Ocean Machine – Biomech, a strong progressive metal release.
The opening track, Seventh Wave, is truly great. It sets up the standards for the whole album: mid-paced tempo, solid - though not amazing - guitar work, slightly distorted vocals and, above all, this odd atmospheric background we will find in every song here. This might be due to the keyboards use as well as to the production that, let’s admit it, has it flaws: non-existent bass (what doesn’t bother me that much) and vocals sometimes lost in the mix. The drumming too is rather impersonal – the average prog-rock drums, nothing special, Devin Townsend could as well have played the drums himself it wouldn´t have been worse. Though, the song manages very well to recreate this “ocean” mood suggested by both its and the album’s title. Good job.
The following tracks (Life, Night, Hide Nowhere), though still being fully enjoyable, are more mainstream progressive metal – or even prog-rock, sometimes featuring some annoying pop-ish vocals (Life, the most radio-friendly track here). Night also offers nice electronics in the background (yes, nice electronics - though I’m not fond of electronic music, believe me), while Hide Nowhere finishes on this puzzling ambient interlude, Sister – a few guitar chords, “sister” repeated again and again, backed by ocean sound and seagull screams. Tell me the meaning of that. Ocean Machine, that is.
3 A.M is an interlude as well, then, Voices in the Fan is easily one of the best songs here, Devin’s voice becoming more aggressive in the verses (not Strapping Young Lad, though), while being again almost pop-ish in the chorus. And then... what’s this? A Gregorian choir?! Oh, I understand. The “voices in the fan”, I presume. Unexpected stuff, but unexpected is what makes this release interesting. The following track, Greetings, is still good but has nothing new to offer.
And then, here is the best track here... Regulator! Apparently random drums to begin, Devin shouting “I’mmmmmm regulated” again and again, almost the only lyrics there... yes, this is no more pop-ish, this is metal, and, above all, this is ART. And again tell me the meaning of that... I know. The ocean works as a regulator of climate or something like that, right? Regulator of Devin’s mind too? hum... Anyway, a masterpiece.
Unfortunately the end of the album won’t be so brilliant. The last three tracks (Funeral, Bastard, The Death of Music) are just... boring. I mean, not awful, the atmospheric, “oceanic” feeling is still there, but obviously too long. Why having put the three longest tracks altogether? Indeed the main problem is not really the songs length, but rather the fact they seem to never begin. An eight minutes introduction for a song which will never come. And too similar, these songs just don’t stick in my mind anymore after I stop spinning the CD, I can only remember this funny “Jesus was a poor boy” verse from Funeral, even after several listens. And above all, they lack of energy...
Eventually the “bonus” track, Things beyond things, brings on nothing special in itself, but at the end features... the most amazing shriek I have ever heard! It sounds like a man on the electric chair, a pure moment of madness by Devin Townsend. Wait, Devin IS mad. Nothing surprising, thus.
To sum up we have here a good progressive metal album I can only recommend to any Devin Townsend fan, any prog metal fan in general and anyone loving... ocean and/or weird atmospheres. Personally I would tend to fall asleep after Regulator, fortunately the final shriek would wake me up just on time to change the CD. Or to listen to the first songs, again.
Highlights: Seventh Wave, Voices in the fan, Regulator... and the ending shriek.
