Review OCEANS ‘Hell Is Where The Heart Is Vol. II: Longing’ – EP

Oceans, that is practiced German/Austrian friendship. Berlin, Coburg and Vienna, these are the home bases of the band which is active since 2017. With only one full-length album so far, Oceans don’t really have many longplayers at the start. Rather, the quartet focuses on EPs. With ‘Hell Is Where The Heart Is Part II – Longing’ comes a new one to the band’s discography these days and continues the cycle which started with ‘Hell Is Where The Heart Is Part I – Love and Her Embrace’ in January 2022.

The structure of the new EP is similar to the first part – intro and three songs. After the intro ‘Longing’ faded away, two songs follow with ‘Home’ and ‘I Want to be Whole Again’, blending post-metal and progressive metal skillfully. Both tracks have a heaviness and build on a gloomy aura. Fragile passages turn into hard parts and show an emotional state that we all have been through before.

‘Living=Dying’ comes across much more aggressive. The last track of this EP also has the melodic section with clean vocals, but the brutal passages take much more space and it is the contrast which gives the title ‘Living=Dying’ a musical appearance.

Oceans succeed in bringing with ‘Hell Is Where The Heart Is Part II – Longing’ a varied and emotionally deep EP to the start. Worth a listen.