Every once in a while, a debut album comes around that shows off a new project that will hopefully blow up. Whenever one of these first experiences that these bands put out comes around, it’s really refreshing to see a new artist try to break through. Greece’s Ocean of Grief is one of those bands. The band’s style of death/doom metal feels familiar, but is really well done and fans of this style shouldn’t miss out on. Their debut, “Nightfall’s Lament”, came out at the end of January, and opens with “In Bleakness”. This song has an orchestral opening, which leads into a very good melodeath section. The production is very nice, and the tone and lead guitar are really well done. “Eyes of Oblivion” has a nice opening guitar, and is a bit softer than the previous song. This one continues the very dark tone that will populate is album. “Field of the Overlord” is next, and opens up with a nice ambient section, before leading into a faster paced song that is very melodic.
Up next is “Painting my Sorrow”, which has a very soft guitar intro. This song has some very nice writing, and has some nice shifts in heaviness throughout. “The Breeding of Death” has a very dark tone, and the lead guitar here is especially excellent. The writing on this one is also very interesting, and something I enjoyed. This album ends with “The Release of the Souls”, which opens up very nicely with a good guitar section, and has a very dark tone, some nice riffs, and the overall composition is very nice. This is a very good album. It can at times feel a bit same-y, but the writing and tone on here is very well done, and if you like your music with emotional weight with some solid production and great writing, then make sure to scope this out.
Overall Score: 8.5/10
Review by Sam Hookom
