Live Review 013-Being As An Ocean

Live performance:**     Times Seen:1

Dear G-D… (2012)-7.8

How We Both Wondrously Perish (2014)-7.7

Being As An Ocean (2015)-7.6

Genre 1:Melodic Hardcore

Genre 2:Religous

Genre 3:Post-Hardcore

Genre 4:Post-Rock

For Fans Of:Counterparts, Hundredth, Underoath, La Dispute, Defeater,The Story So Far, Tumblr, Beards, reblogging, warped tour, clean guitars, 

Formed In:2011

Status:Touring

-Discography Overview-

Dear G-D… was a groundbreaking album. Featuring an interesting twist of Melodic Hardcore and Post-Rock elements, it’s certainly a rare combination in this genre. Combine that with spoken word interludes, powerful lyrics and philosophically religious themes and you have tumblr’s very own Being As An Ocean. The debut album gives a strong feel of all the bands that influence the quintet. Listening to the title Track “Nothing, Save the Power They’re Given” pretty much demonstrates what you can expect from the entire album. Clean guitar harmonies over harsh shouting, spoken word sections that remind you La Dispute or Listener, and the occasional upbeat psuedo-Counterparts songs. The drums are simplistic, but sufficient. But if you’re listening to BAAO it’s likely that you’re not looking for technicality in the instrumentation. It has been said that the guitarist Tyler Ross “Wrote the whole first album shortly after it’s formation” which could explain the album being kind of rushed or notoriously single minded (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the album is definitely consistent). The band has a few  scattered ‘heavy’ parts, such as the beginning to “The Hardest Part is Forgetting Those You Swore You Would Never Forget” and a breakdown in “Humble Servant, Am I”. Which clearly reveals their Metalcore and Post-Hardcore roots. The clean vocals are hit or miss. I like them but I can understand why some people hate them. All in all, the songs about lost love, god, “hating this place” and spoken word sections are enough to gather a huge following here on tumblr. In addition, touring with Counterparts and Hundredth certainly helped launch the band’s start, giving them a big following before Dear G-d even debuted.“It’s Really Not As Complicated As You’re Making It Out To Be” contains all of the post-rock elements I talked about earlier, even sampling a speech by Ghandi. The only downfall is the closing part of the eleven minute song fails to deliver a good conclusion to the tension it builds. Instead, it simply dies out repeating a boring riff. The closing track “If They’re Not Counted, Count Me Out” is a melodic post-rock song that expresses the disapproval with anyone that claims to interpret religion to spread hate. It’s a powerful emotionally driven song that ends the album on soft note. If the album repeats, it flows back in nicely with the opening track.  

How We Both Wondrously Perish, BAAO’s sophomore effort, is surprisingly different than Dear G-d in a lot of ways. The fact that it wasn’t all written by the guitarist, and two new members certainly have a lot to do with it. Some parts remind you of Dear G-d, which could either be considered cool or predictable. The New clean vocals are that of the rhythm guitarist, and are reminiscent the vocal chords of one Jonny Craig. Sometimes they feel unwelcome, but in “L’excuisite Douieur” they truly shine and work great with Joel’s harsh vocals. “The Poets Cry For More” is a cool track because outside of the spoken word, you almost wouldn’t be able to tell it’s Being As An Ocean. How We Both Wondrously Perish isn’t the tightest album, but it’s still a good release. I’m definitely curious to how it sounds live.







Being As An Ocean’s self titled and most recent release, throws you off balance immediately by showing you the band’s change in direction. The first single off the album “Little Richie” appears to be the band’s biggest song now. Being As An Ocean is more of a mainstream Post-Hardcore sounding album, especially utilizing the newer backing vocalist Mike even more often than before. I dig “Sleeping Sicarii” a lot. It’s cool to hear the band write exciting riffs this time around. The Christian themes are seemingly the most prevelant on this album, going as far as quoting bible passages directly. So if you’re into that it can be a bonus. If you’re really not, I guess that sucks. All in all, a solid album but it didn’t grabbed my attention too much. With the constant changes, who knows what the next BAAO album with have in store for us. 

-Live Review-

By the time I was about to see Being As An Ocean, I was really into them. I was listening to Dear G-d almost every week, and I was preparing myself for the mosh worthy breakdown(s). Yeah, lame, I know. But it comes so fast I didn’t wanna miss it. I drove to the Emporium and most of my friends were already mocking me and anyone else actually hyped for Being As An Ocean. Clearly, their tumblr reputation proceeded them. I didn’t care though. They came on, impressed me with how “tumblr” they looked, and they played. I was unfortunately underwhelmed by the band’s sound. Specifically Joel’s vocals and the guitar. They seemed so much weaker than they did on the album version, whether it be his screams, yelling or spoken words. Other than a weak live sound, they were still enjoyable and energetic. I hope to see them again and find out if the new material, line up, venue or any such things will help them blow me away next time.