BirthEater is the second full-length album from post-hardcore band Oceana and first impressions are it’s fucking creepy, dark and melodic.
Going in a completely different direction and experimenting with different time signatures and unconventional chord progressions, it’s hard to believe this is the band that brought out The Tide.
BirthEater sees the addition of a new vocalist Brennan Taulbee (taking over from Keith Jones the ex-vocalist who did vocals on The Tide) and drummer Denny – although opinions seem to be mixed on the new replacement members.
After first listening to BirthEater I immediately said to myself ‘holy fuck, this is some awesome shit’. I was honestly expecting Oceana’s second release to be as hardcore sounding as The Tide, much to my delight it was way better than The Tide could ever be in every single possible way.
All of the songs on BirthEater paint the picture of abandonment, sadness, pro-life, miscarriages and abortions – but Brennan seems to make this theme work for the album as it is his story (he was supposedly meant to be aborted when his mother was pregnant with him). BirthEater is so amazing that it sounds like Oceana are a completely new band, they sound completely different.
There are various mixed opinions on BirthEater with people claiming that BirthEater is less technical than The Tide, this is a load of crap. The Tide is nothing compared to BirthEater. The time signature changes, chord experimentation, better use of melodics and the feeling of being more put together shows that BirthEater beats The Tide in every way in the technical department.
I think a lot of people are only saying that BirthEater is less technical than The Tide is because they don’t sound like the same band as they used too, I think change is good. There’s no point in being a band if you’re not going to step out of your comfort zone every once in a while. Thrice seem to accomplish this feat with ease.
Lyrics such as “something didn’t want you to live in me, my body rejected you, you don’t belong to me and after the body’s clean they have to make room, for me to sleep” sung in ‘Dead Speaker’ give you an uneasy feeling, they sound creepy, Brennan passionately sings every single word with a slight tremor in his voice.
Brennan obviously has a talent for writing lyrics that appease to the ears and also manage to hit you right in the heart at the same time, songs with meaning are far more pleasing to listen to than songs with no originality or message in them.
Track by Track Review
Track 1 – Breather II. The opening track on BirthEater has a good feel to it. A catchy guitar riff plays as Denny shows us that he is fitting in well with underling drums perfectly in time with the rest of the band. Brennan shows off his screaming abilities right off the bat, and then soon after shows us just how good his clean vocals sound. You get the feeling of a dream type feel with the mixture of airy lyrics and screams. Although, this track in my opinion isn’t one of the best tracks on BirthEater, but it still sounds amazing.
Track 2 – The Family Disease. This track is a very powerful and appropriately titled song quite clearly one of the standout tracks on BirthEater that gives you chills every time you listen to it. After reading the lyrics to this song, it seems to take on a whole new level of creepiness when you fully understand what Brennan is singing. You only have to hear the lyrics “feel me, my angers gone, I don’t breathe, I only have a son, it’s not me, it’s not me, I’m not real, I was never born” to immediately know this song conceals a powerful message of feeling unwanted, angry, upset and lost all in the one song.
Track 3 – The Constrictor. Starting out with lyrics that lull you into a false sense of security and calmness before Brennan’s powerful screaming takes you out of your comfort zone immediately making your heart race. Although not one of the strongest tracks on the album, it still has the ability to invoke both a feeling of calm and nervousness.
Track 4 – Dead Speaker. In my opinion this is one of the second best tracks on BirthEater alongside ‘The Family Disease’ and ‘The Abortion Plan’. It’s lyrics are powerful, moody dark and give you an uneasy feeling of being on edge. The lyrics are enough to creep anyone out who truly takes the time to fully understand them. This song contains a very strong abortion theme throughout that really makes you think. Ending with sincere sounding piano and soft ambient effects in the background, you feel the nervousness start to settle after this track is over.
Track 5 – Mother Love. Somewhat resembling track number #3 ‘The Constrictor’, this track just doesn’t feel like it delivers as well as some of the other tracks on the album. The lyrics once again sticking to the dark theme deliver a powerful message to your ears. Lyrics in the song “my mother sings when she’s afraid of me”send chills down my spine, this song is pretty freaky, but a good kind of freaky. The intro of this song is probably as good as the song gets, the rest of the track is a bit of a let down.
Track 6 – In Birth. Consisting mainly of gentle ambient vocals sung smoothly and on pitch by Brennan, this song seems to fit in with the rest of the album quite well. The lyrics in this song paint the picture of abandonment, birth and the feeling of being alone. This song is definitely not as fast paced as some of the previous tracks before it, but it’s good for a change every now and then. Half way through the song subtly screamed vocals hit you in the face and take the song into a new direction, then soon after slipping back into it’s soft and warm feeling of lulling you into a false sense of security.
Track 7 – Boneworks. Boneworks is an obviously well thought out track on BirthEater and on each listen you can really hear the intricacies it seems to possess. Mixing elements from all previous 6 tracks before it, it shows just how mature Oceana have become from the Tide days. Although a short track, it’s straight to the point and awesome. Brennan screams with power and emotion much like every other song on BirthEater, this song doesn’t really have anything to make it memorable, but it is good, it blends in a little too well to make it stand out sadly.
Track 8 – The Abortion Plan. If I were to pick one song from BirthEater that I thought was really great, in-fact fantastic, I would choose ‘The Abortion Plan’. This song is probably the most powerful song Oceana have ever written to date, Brennan’s ability to deliver sincere sounding notes and lyrics in this song really shows just how talented Oceana are. This song has a very sad theme, when I first listened to this song it actually made me sad, it’s a very sad song.
Every time I still listen to this song it makes me feel grateful I’m alive, it also makes you feel like you’re on the verge of crying. Lyrics like; “my mother didn’t want me, my whole life I’ve been starving” and “the mind of an infant, where did I go? well I knew that my heart wouldn’t make it”. If you’re unsure about this band, listen to this track first and you’ll immediately fall in love with Oceana’s new crafted sound.
Track 9 – BOA. This track is one of the stand out brutal tracks on BirthEater. It’s fast paced drums and intricate time signature changes make this track amazing to listen to. The screams are brutal, powerful and the lyrics are amazing. Various tempo changes and crescendos make this song exciting, kind of like an endless roller-coaster that you don’t get sick of riding. Brennan really lets loose on this track and shows he is just as good of a screamer as Keith was, if not, better during the breakdown you can really hear Brennan shine.
Track 10 – I Came As Dust (I Left As Dust). Upon hearing the first 30 seconds of this track you immediately think ‘this sounds just like a few of the other tracks on this album’ then the song takes on a new form, the chorus and bridge of this song truly proves just how different it is. Sticking to the dark, lullying feeling of the rest of the album but sporting mostly clean vocals before finishing off with semi-screamed vocals this song ends abruptly leaving you wondering where the rest of it went.
Track 11 – The Spine Collection. New drummer Denny Agosto is obviously trying to make his mark with the drums in this song. Although not really that different to any of the other tracks, he seems to put a lot of energy into track which mixes the perfect blend of melodics with screaming to make this track really enjoyable to listen to. Towards the end the song dramatically slows down with Denny still showing off just how good of a drummer he is.
Track 12 – Devil Walk, God Walk (Heaven Walk, Hell Walk). With a remarkable track time of over 9 minutes, this track is absofuckinglutely amazing. Starting out with intricate but yet still simple sounding guitar overlaid with pure clean vocals as Brennan really shows off his voice in this track. Starting off slow this song eventually begins to build itself up until Brennan can’t control his voice and lets loose screaming, taking the track in another direction only to abruptly leave us hanging. Clean vocals come back into play again with melodics, and a hint of ambiance added to the mix. Brennan then does it again, flipping the song on it’s side, screaming his heart out as the guitar plays perfectly timed Drop C opens. Towards the end the song takes on an entirely different sound making you believe that there is a 13th track when it’s still really track 12. Gang choir like vocals that slowly fade out really end this song on a great note and end the album on an even more sincere note leaving you wanting more.
Final verdict:
This album is fucking awesome. It’s perfect mix of melodics, clean and screamed vocals, plus perfectly crafted songs makes this album Oceana’s best yet. The addition of Brennan and Denny seems to have given Oceana the change it needed to stand out from the sea of ill-fated copycat bands of the post-hardcore genre. This album is far beyond any expectations I ever had for another Oceana album.
Although this album isn’t out until the 26th of May, make sure you purchase this masterpiece when it is officially released, it’s truly worth the money. I give this album a 9 out of 10.
Oceana Birth.Eater Lyrics
Breather II
Let it be reborn invited
and I hate my ways now.
I looked possessed
in a focus of pure hate
and I was gone forever. Gone.
I didn’t mean it
and now I’m faded and wasted
I’m throwing up the old.
I knew that I’d live it.
Admit it.
My demons were beating me down.
Cut out the black space,
the blood and frustration of
a wasted life.
And I sent myself away with the medicine.
Another sleepless night.
Another sleepless night.
Another sleepless night.
Another sleepless night.
The Family Disease Lyrics
I’ll vomit illusions, trick myself that I’m happy, but so much comes out of my mouth its burning me empty. I think my heart could receive it, cheap impostor where you heading, thank you my love would you believe me, thank you my love would you be listening.
Feel me my angers gone, I don’t breathe I only have a son, its not me, I’m not real, I was never born. I am forever alive, I hook my heart to my eyes, I reach from birth just to die, I keep the devil inside I grow him in me.
I watched you choke on me, you leave me unbalanced, you come back to break them.
The Constrictor
Divided I’m carelessly counting my sins
the sight of growing too old to begin.
Sentenced to find the one
that is gold in a pile of nothing
To our hearts we wreck, we’re reborn.
I grow inside you I feel nothing and when I’m born I’ll be ready.
There’s not enough of a reason to be ugly.
I’ll crucify you and burn till you’re nothing.
And if my body is bruised, would you believe me
that I’m more than you.
And what you’re reading, medic I feel headless.
Leave me.
And if the world never died,
I’d live long enough to forget
what it’s shape is.
I lost each one of my eyes
in a world mind versus the question
Dead Speaker
Something didn’t want you to live in me.
My body rejected you and you don’t belong to me.
And after the bodies cleaned,
they have to make room for you to breathe.
Something didn’t want you to die in me.
Breather you took it all away from me.
You’re nothing.
Was I supposed to see?
Mother were going too fast for me.
I was a growing seed.
It ended mother.
I was still so afraid of my grave.
I was buried as a child father
And after all my organs were choked.
Do you still feel me?
I’ll find sadness
it matches my sound
it’s vicious as sex.
Devil you fed it, your son isn’t finished
Mother Love Lyrics
Fear love.
A failure to nothing but an empty shape.
We collide and we’re dead on.
Are you tired enough?
I think I hurt your head enough.
Bruising me the first touch.
Well fall asleep.
Well close it up.
Count the days till you get rid of me.
Till I fall asleep.
I am meaningless.
Endlessly you feel fine if you could bury me.
Six feet underneath.
I won’t see it.
And now I’m recklessly ending it
as it falls from the stage to the floor.
The day ends when I say it does.
I’m afraid of him.
I’m afraid of him.
My mother sings when she’s afraid of me because I hurt her more.
More than the son she sees.
It scares her half to death.
My father sings when he’s afraid of me because I hurt him more.
More than the son he sees.
It scares us all to death
In Birth
In birth we lose them
to sudden defects.
Our minds are not open yet.
And all, all the life you had
you’ll finally see.
There’s no life here.
We welcome you to the world in fascinating views.
We consume you wil all be alone.
You’re breathing like you did.
You never wanted to.
You’re always gonna lose
when no ones there for you.
You’re barely human.
Yet we thought we’d see you soon.
We’ll all abandon you.
We’re always gonna lose.
Those who say there’s nothing after,
well, they’re all ghosts
and none of them will matter
Boneworks
When feeding the ones left breathing
It’s our only way to live.
My minds past growing in the salt,
with the bone community.
They took my tongue for the things I wanted,
but couldn’t say.
When your taking my child away
my colors will surely change.
My voice will be the same.
Things were never that way again.
After they came and left,
we’re nothing.
Your voice is a cannibal.
Your child got taken away.
Your life is an open wound,
exposed to all of those around you
The Abortion Plan
I left my head when i was home
I caught an evil side of me.
I only breathe when I’m alone.
The days await till I am gone.
I grew right next to your heart.
I should have grabbed it,
and pulled it down.
I feel what you’re feeding me.
I hear what you really speak.
Could the eater rot in time?
He’s sucking out the lines,
that make you notice the world as an illusion.
Your body pushes through it.
In birth it all confuses us.
What do I do when I’m lying on a table?
My mother didn’t want me. My whole life I’ve been starving.
9 months to grow inside you,
my life was fresh as the mind of an infant.
Where did I go?
Hell, I knew that my heart wouldn’t make it.
And the due date is close.
Well heaven knew it took a part of me.
But I only speak,
I only speak when I’m hungry.
Now the lights on my face.
And I’ve never felt more ugly,
when the devil grabbed me by the legs,
and shook me.
I was gone you said it.
Home’s where death is,
I’ll just forget it
BOA
If i was fearing the world,
I’d be generous.
In habit, the world seems to feed what I need.
And in a separating ground pulled apart from me,
I erase everything.
When we were first born,
the liquid covered our bodies it got harder to breathe.
Without a clue in the world,
our Fathers poisoned their wives.
And the life that he made for me,
are you afraid of us?
This isn’t a place for us.
Your body is surely as sad as can be.
Wish I could feel again.
The sadness will never end.
Invited forever we sleep.
Hail deliverer the skin will peel off of me.
If I hadn’t meant to live?
What would I give?
I had a part of you.
You were a part of me.
And now it doesn’t exist.
In Hell we decide.
I’m hiding in the lines of the sand with the old blood.
I’m dying and living alone in a home with nothing,
I’m nothing and I mean it
and I saw the afterlife
you had a reason to be.
And now their all alone.
We’ll all be living and if they eat us,
they’ll only show us their life is broken in pairs,
with the old love I’m extending my way,
as a full blood in this life
I Came As Dust [I Left As Dust]
I kept a cross in my right hand.
I dropped it into the quicksand the wood went to waste.
Your faith, it’s broken.
You’re furthering yourself to fame,
you’re losing.
Your god is leaving.
I left it there for a blind man.
He pulled it out with no questions,
and I took his place.
And when there’s nowhere to fit,
it leaves us here to be compared to him.
How could you bend your fears?
The day was reduced to tears.
Your stomach was armor.
An aid that would save your life.
It’s impossible for you to hear.
Breather,
you followed me here,
you followed my footsteps here
You fit in my head,
like a father I’ll never remember you.
Ever
The Spine Collection
The old ways always get at me,
throwing myself on the floor when I’m empty.
Call me I’m falling in front of a demon possessing.
Making me talk.
My throat gets rid of a part of me.
Anxiety could end it all.
Physically I’ve found that I’ll stay the same,
and you all should have nothing to say.
I was afraid of living alone.
You could of changed it.
They could have saved us.
I need something to fill in the hole.
How pathetic my face is allergic.
And everything my spine gives.
I wanna get rid of it.
The patches that hold my blood in.
I’ve invented a new sin.
The whole world takes part of it.
In learning I’ll love him right now.
He does not exist.
Till then I’ll be over it.
It’s one thing I’ll never miss
And I’ll never find a way to be happy,
and there’s no one here that’s like me
Devil Walk, God Walk (Heaven Walk, Hell Walk)
For those who mean it,
your skin will be cleaned.
The scales you have shed for the family disease wash the salt away from you palms.
You’re sweating it out.
I beg for the taste of it,
believing in him.
Devil the fear of you in me,
delivering the failures that made me believe there’s no life worth living,
our children will leave.
We’ll separate the family disease.
We’ll create if we’re dead.
We’ll believe.
Guard them demon,
let them be headed.
Kill them, burn them,
we’ll be left seedless men.
It was diseased,
I was left just to see it.
The rotting flesh.
My teeth were all broken from feeding.
I found a better love.
As I aged, it progressed and I left.
It’s not over till it’s over I said.
Found myself with a cheap mask in hand.
Drowned out.
Birth has it’s hands reached out to welcome the sound of hell.
Open your eyes child,
breathe now.
But don’t move your mouth.
All of my heartless life I die
My voice will change when I start to smile.
My mind gets eaten away.
Our children die.
Wash the salt from your palms you’re sweating it out.
I beg for the taste of it.
All of our sons and our daughters are dead,
and the birth that we stole,
the eater grows old
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