This album went from "okay, a few tracks are good, especially the last two" to getting most every single song stuck in my head at some point. Mixing hardcore/metal vocals and singing is not new. How often do you hear harmonies between them? I didn't notice things like that on my first couple of listens. As I changed my listening environment back and forth between headphones and speakers I slowly discovered more and more things I liked about the album. The production is incredible. I felt indifferent about the singing vocals (which are miles ahead of the singing vocals on the last The Ocean album) at first but the singer grew on me. I understand that many people tend to hate anything that sounds remotely "mainstream" but singing is singing... you don't always have to look for uniqueness but instead look for quality. Lyrically this is also great. It might get a bit too atheistic for some people's taste near the end but the way the whole album lyrically builds up to that point is simply spectacular and really shows how far this band has come. Instrumentally the album is far more diverse than anything they've done and I feel like it hits harder because of it.

If this wasn't released under The Ocean name it probably would have been rated a lot higher on here. There's a lot to be said for how people perceive what a band should and shouldn't sound like unfortunately. I implore those who might be turned off upon first listen to give this album a chance. The Ocean took a risk and wrote more diverse and complex music and they required a singer to expand their sound. It works. It's just different.