Finland’s …And Oceans have a new full length opus out with Season of Mist. I was so glad when they released their new come back opus called ‘Cosmic World Mother’ back in 2020. Although there were some line-up changes through the years, this didn’t stop …And Oceans. They were very interesting band to me back in the day because they mixed industrial with symphonic black metal and it worked excellently. Then they changed name, line-up but they returned and new vocalist Mathias Lillmåns, known also as singer for Finntroll delivered new power with his strong voice capable of black metal screaming, angry growling to some spoken word and clean singing. This new batch of songs are concentrated more on melodic and symphonic black metal, not unlike Old Man’s Child in some segments of the songwriting or maybe even Dimmu back in their early and best days. Lyrics deal with more deep introspective and philosophical side of darkness in man and universe. This also means strong synth melodies and symphonic arrangements, guitar work which connects old school aggressive black metal riffing with melodies and melancholic hooks only Finnish bands are capable of making. Add to this phenomenal drumming from blasts to changes of tempo to emphasize the strength of material. This is sympho black melodic par excellence. My personal favorites on this record are: ‘As in Gardens, So in Tombs’, ‘Within Fire and Crystal’ and epic ‘Ambivalent God’.

9,5/10