Catalyst by Oceansize

July 16, 2004 | 3 Comments

The Artist: Oceansize
The Song: Catalyst
The Album: Effloresce
Released 2004

I saw Oceansize a few weeks back when they opened for McLusky and they are one of those never-heard-em-loved-em-immediately bands. In many ways it reminded me of when I saw The Cooper Temple Clause earlier this year — they were great technically and they just rocked.

I picked up the album, Effloresce a few days later and while it doesn’t really capture their live sound, it’s still a very good album that I’ve had in pretty heavy rotation ever sense.

These guys are a bit hard to pin down. The music is something like a very hard Radiohead, if there is such a thing. You’ve got some great melodic keyboards with some pretty hard, driving rhythms laid over them. It’s not really a unique sound, but it’s interesting.

It’s very technical and you can sense they’ve got a pretty good idea how to construct a rock song. Some might not be able to discern this from lots of other prog-rock out there, but I think it’s got something a bit special. You can really see that live.

The vocals remind me of both Chris Cornell and Brandon Boyd. A strange combination, but they’re very strong none the less. This is particularly evident in this week’s song “Catalyst.” If you miss some of the old, epic grunge vocals there is some of that in here for sure.

I highly recommend this album and also suggest, especially if they’re still playing with McLusky, you check them out live.

Recommended if you like: Floater, Soundgarden, Incubus, The Cooper Temple Clause, McLusky

Filed under: Song of The Week

Comments

1. Josh Bryant said:

Awesome! I’ll download it as soon as I get home today. I mainly just wanted to say it was awesome to meet you and your presentation was really great. I just stopped by here on my way to find your presentation and review over the slides once again. Great job and I would have come to the conference if you were the only act.

Cheers

Posted on July 16, 2004 03:36 PM | #

2. Lachlan Hardy said:

They’re unlikely to be still touring with McLusky seeing as McLusky’s tour has finished… I saw them in Melbourne on the 10th and I think they headed back to Wales a few days ago

McLusky were supported by a couple of local groups. One of whom, the Bird Blobs, was atrocious and the other, Black Level Embassy, hit me with a similar experience to yours with Oceansize. Before they’d started their third song I was back at the Merchandise stand asking for a CD - and they don’t have one… yet

Thanks for pointing out Oceansize, I’ll be looking into them!

Oh, and since I somehow managed not to mention it - McLusky were absolutely amazing. I haven’t seen a gig that good since Pearl Jam last year

Posted on July 16, 2004 05:32 PM | #

3. DEfusion said:

Oceansize are indeed marvellous. You are correct in stating that this is a band best seen live, although Effloresce does a great job of capturing their sound. I’ve been watching this band play in different sized venues here for the past two years and they’ve never failed to impress.

Last time me and my friends spoke to the band a couple of month’s back they were still having a hard time paying rent. So if you like the album buy it, don’t download it – although that should be a given for any album.

Posted on July 19, 2004 03:49 AM | #