With Being as an Oceans first album “Dear G-d” which no doubt about it had a highly religious background with lyrics such as:
“Lord, we're terrified
But dive in we must
Cause there has to be something better than this
For we see testimony of You in the sea
Your creation, all of nature” from the song The Sea Always Seems to Put me at Ease.
or even from the song Humble Servant
“Blessings of faith, when I have only a mustard seed
For every hardship in my life
I'll hold Your name and I'll do just fine
All praise are Yours and none are mine”
The new album How We Both Wondrously Perish is less about religion and more about relationships and home. With being a fan of Being as an Ocean, I am a fan of their instrumentals. This album lacks the luscious sweeping from ear to ear from the instrumentals and instead you can hear Joel Quartuccio over the melodies, which have changed from melodic hardcore to more of a modern Post hardcore. The clean vocals from Michael McGough match well with this album, but still have a lighter tone with it.
I think after losing two members’, Jacob Prest and Connor Denis they lost their bond. I saw them July 2013 with Hundredth and Counterparts, and they had a upbeat stage performance compared to March 2014 I could tell something was lost. They kept their performance to a short minimum, but with the old members everyone was enjoying themselves. What does this have to do with this new album? You need to have a bond with the people you write music with for it to have a meaning and a purpose to the people who listen to it.
I question why I had so high hopes of Being as an Ocean. Could it be that they spent too much time on this album that they just decided to release it since they did not release anything for two years. Most of the tracks on the new album have the same feeling to it. When I listen to an album I want to feel different levels of emotion for that album. I don’t just want to joyous, I want to feel that and something in my life that is absent, but also regret. An album should make us feel. A connection to an album will make all the difference.
How We Both Wondrously Perish comes out May 6th on Invouge records.
Check out their video for the song "Death's Great Black Wing Scrapes The Air" here.