Ronon's Reviews - Independent and Unbiased Reviews
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • News
  • About Us
  • Our Friends
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • News
  • About Us
  • Our Friends
  • Contact

Ocean Grove's The Rhapsody Tapes

20/2/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture
Label: 
  • UNFD
Release Date:
  • 3rd of February 2017
Band Members: 
  • Luke Holmes - Vocals
  • Jimmy Hall - Guitar
  • Matthew Henley - Guitar
  • Dale Tanner - Bass & Clean Vocals
  • Sam Bassal - Drums
  • Running Touch - Studio Member​
Genre: 
  • ​Odd World Music

Despite the fact Ronon’s Reviews is based here in London, we truly are worldwide. We have readers all over the globe and writers dotted all around. But most information about bands that reaches me is mainly from US or UK sources
​
which means I do miss out on a lot of great bands outside of these spheres of influence.

Fortunately, I still follow Triple J (an Australian youth network) on all their social media so I can pick up on a few things in Oz, even though quite a bit still passes me by (Birds of Tokyo latest album).

I got lucky and saw Triple J had recently played Ocean Grove’s The Rhapsody Tapes as their feature album, so after having a quick listen to this 6 piece out of Melbourne I just had to share them with the world.
​
It’s hard to classify Ocean Grove’s playing style, personally I’m calling it Nu-Metalcore as the band has laid their sound on a bedrock of MC, but infused it with tough riffs, industrial sounds, deep dance beats, 90’s sounds and a touch of hip hop, which they call ‘Odd World Music’. Just like Sharks in your Mouth last year this one came out of nowhere and blew me away, it’s another debut that really kicks arse.
​
The Rhapsody Tapes opens with ‘What I Love About a Natural Woman’ and it’s just a teasing hip hop flavoured noise with minimal lyrics, at only a minute twenty it grabs your attention and keeps you unprepared for what comes next… ‘Beers’ hits the ground running straight from the opening chord, it's pure metalcore filth and I love every second of it. 
​

​Just when you’re thinking this is just another Core album ‘Thunderdome’ starts off with very mid noughties Gorillas sound that rocks you off your feet before slamming back on the aggression. ‘Thunderdome’ has the best of both worlds and is a really well constructed song.

‘Intimate Alien’ is Ocean Grove’s love letter to early Korn, dark metal with cleaner vocals and deep bass, I can imagine this track going off live. Last tune to mention that really stands out is ‘The Wrong Way’ because it takes me all the way back to the early to mid nineties when Silverchair was all over Australian radio waves, if someone dubbed Daniel John’s voice instead it would fit perfectly, but it’s not just the nostalgia factor, this is a killer track that slowly builds up and explodes just right during the bridge, this needs to be played loud.

I love covering up and coming bands, they always bring something new and interesting to the table, but I can honestly say Ocean Grove are on a complete other level. Not only have they created their own genre (quite few bands do this these days) but they have melded so many different styles of music that by right shouldn’t go together.

Every track on The Rhapsody Tapes is different in its own right and you won’t hear the same thing twice. These guys have released stuff before but this is their first full length and it’s an amazing start from these lads and I look forward to their next project.

 
PS: Guys, if you're reading this, come to London, I’d love to check you out live.
 
8.5/10
 
Written by a musically homesick Dan.

US Only
Ocean Grove's THE RHAPSODY TAPES
Australia Only
UK Only

Picture
Just like Ocean Grove, Sharks in Your Mouth released an awesomesauce debut album, Promises.
Picture
So far 2017 has delivered the musical goods, earlier this year SixStringNoise dropped the sweet Cold Damned Season.
Picture
Ocean Grove are shaping up to be a dominant force in aussie metal, can they top the Kings Parkway Drive and their unstoppable Ire?

2 Comments
NV - The homie D
26/6/2019 10:27:41 am

Site looks amazing guys. Glad u got it back up new and improved. The cover of this had me intrigued so i checked out the review and it def sounds like something id be into. The video and song are dope so im gonna look more into these guys asap. Let Mags know i said Hi and that im checking u guys out too

Reply
Dan link
26/6/2019 01:30:09 pm

Hey dude, thanks for the awesome words of support! It means the world to us.

As for the band, they're had a bit of a massive lineup change and their newer music is a bit different. You might still dig it, but I'm not too sure on it just yet.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

    Categories

    All
    Action
    Adventure
    AJT's Reviews
    Album
    Album/ EP
    Alternative Metal
    Alt Rock
    Animation
    Awesome Covers
    Book
    Colin's Review
    Comedy
    Crime
    Dan's Reviews
    Deathcore
    Death Metal
    Djent
    Drama
    Electro
    Electronicore
    EP
    Fantasy
    Film Review
    First Person Shooter
    Game
    Gig Review
    Grunge
    Hardcore
    Hard Rock
    Hip Hop/ Rap
    Horror
    Indie
    Interview
    Joint Review
    Mags' Review
    Matthew's Review
    Metal
    Metal Album
    Metalcore
    Music
    Mystery
    Norman Voorhees' Reviews
    Nu Metal
    Pop
    Prog
    Punk
    R&B
    Rock
    Rock Album
    RPG
    RTS
    Sara Mathius' Review
    Sara's Review
    Sci Fi
    Simulation
    Spotlight On
    Superhero
    Survival
    Taz's Review
    There Will Be Spoilers
    Third Person Shooter
    Thrash Metal
    Thriller
    Track Of The Week
    Track Review
    TV Review
    Two Metal Fans
    WTF

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly