OCEANARIUM

Oceanarium is the fourth installment by Deluge Grander from Maryland, a project lead by Dan Britton, also of Birds and Buildings and Cerebus Effect. This is the second in a trilogy, starting with Helotians, and ending with the as-yet-to-be-released Lunarians. Unlike Helotians, Oceanarium is an all-instrumental affair. This album really features a ton of diverse instruments, from the typical guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, to violin, cello, sax, trombone, flute, and clarinet, but doing it all in a symphonic prog context. What's really great is somehow they created an album that really reminds me of no band in particular. Sure I notice an influence from King Crimson, Canterbury, Camel, Genesis, perhaps, but never directly reminding me of such. The music is retro, so if you didn't know any better, you'd swear you were listening to a lost '70s recording. This is frequently dense and complex music, and given it's nearly 80 minutes long it really needs a few listens to let it all soak in. It's hard for me to point out a highlight, so I won't, but it's very much a worthy addition to your collection.