Oceansize - Cardiff Barfly
Epic rockers show off new material in Cardiff.
After this show was originally cancelled back in November (due to the hospitalisation of drummer Mark Heron), this rescheduled date sees an admirably sized queue lining up to enter the Barfly – a venue that's always been too small for this band. Unfortunately staff walk up and down faffing about with the logistics of valid tickets from the original date. As a result, we get in over half an hour late. But it’s not us that suffer, it’s openers Brontide.
We hot-foot it down the stairs to find them half way through their first song. They get one more. Just one. The band protest that they can have time for a third track, but are answered with house lights and sound system. It’s the closest Rocklouder has been to seeing a band smash equipment in sheer anger. It’s a shame, because the song (and a half) we heard sounded fantastic.
Vessels do get a proper set, and though their instrumental-heavy post-rock takes a while to hit the mark, when it does it’s utterly spellbinding. While comparing them to the likes of And So I Watch You From Afar and the headliners doesn’t do their identity and ingenuity justice, fans of those acts and anyone in-between need to investigate this mesmerising act.
We’ve been waiting over three years for Oceansize’s fourth album, and though an exquisite live DVD release and recent EP 'Home & Minor' provided quality distractions, we found ourselves looking forward to any potential new material likely to show up in their headline set. In the end, their set comprised of more new material than old. We weren't so much being treated as becoming a test audience. Despite the lack of familiar numbers, the audience are under the band’s spell in moments. This is some feat, because though the band have conjured startlingly magnificent sounds out of this Barfly venue in the past, that's not the case tonight.
The sound isn’t exactly appalling – the band are simply too good for that to be possible – but Mike Vennart’s vocals are lost for most of the set, drowned out by the sheer volume. Oceansize play loud. So loud that many of the subtle nuances of their songs are lost behind the walls of sound the band construct and dismantle with ease. That said, when the new songs hit, it’s not the volume that gives them their impact, but their quality. They may not all have confirmed titles, but they bode extremely well for the new album – particular standouts are the dynamic ‘Ransoms’ and ‘Steve’s Head’ (only a working title? But that’s such a great name for a song!). It’s final number 'It's My Tail' (we’d wager another working title) that sticks in the memory the most, though. Mainly because it’s so heavy and loud we feared at the time that it might actually be the last thing we ever hear. We can't think of a better way to lose our hearing, though. Not to be outdone, however, older material is delivered with gusto; including a seismic ‘Massive Bereavement’ and a blistering ‘Homage To A Shame’.
After the calm of 'Hope & Minor', it’s natural to ponder if the next release will be louder or heavier. The new material shared with us is both, to the power ouch. During the aforementioned closer our ribs rumble like they'll shatter and our ears will squeal at us for days following; but though sound problems make this far from the best Oceansize experience, our anticipation for album number four is doubled.
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