UMUR "Islands/Tides" is a self-released demo CD by German sludge/post hardcore/metal act The Ocean (sometimes referred to as The Ocean Collective). The Ocean was formed in 2000 by guitarist/main composer Robin Staps and "Islands/Tides" is the first release by the band. The demo features 5 tracks and a full playing time of 40:21 minutes, so "Islands/Tides" contains enough material for a full-length release.

The music on the demo is sludge/post metal and it´s greatly influenced by Neurosis, but The Ocean are already showing great promise and lots of orginial ideas on "Islands/Tides". Crushingly heavy guitars and both clean and raw hardcore screaming male vocals are some of the elements defining The Ocean´s sound. Add to that some very atmospheric parts with samples and other noises and you got yourself a pretty dark and intriguing release. A good example of the mood on the album is a movie sample on "Islands 2" from "Fight Club" with Brad Pitt stating: "We haven´t had a great depression in our generation. Our great depression is our lives".

The musicianship is solid. Tight interplay and an ear for creating memorable compositions even this early in their career. The "Island/Tides" suite, which consists of the last four tracks on the demo, is an over 30 minutes long track that the band used to play a lot at live concerts in the early years of their career. "Siam" which starts the album is not a part of the suite. It´s also probably the least interesting track on the demo.

So "Islands/Tides" is in many ways a good quality release, but then there´s the sound production, and it´s unfortunately a bit lo-fi and amaturish. Upon conclusion that means that "Islands/Tides" is not a perfect release and it would be a lie if I didn´t say the production is an issue, because it is. Still The Ocean do show great promise, so a 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating isn´t all wrong.