Italy’s Oceana, comprised of Novembre’s Massimiliano Pagliuso (guitars, vocals, keyboards, bass), drummer Alessandro “Sancho” Marconcini, and Stormlord’s Gianpaolo Caprino (guitars), have been in sweet silence since 1996’s Oceana EP. Now, 25 years later, the band formed by Pagliuso and Marconcini have their debut full-length, The Pattern, arriving via Rome-based Time to Kill Records.
Certainly, things have changed and matured since Oceana, and for the better. The Pattern journeys kaleidoscopically through Pagliuso and Marconcini’s various inputs — from bands like Paradise Lost and Opeth to Riverside and The Pineapple Thief. The result is a powerful expression of progressively-minded metal whose roots extend into and beyond the genre’s usual footholds. To wit, the song Decibel is premiering, “Atlantidea Suite Pt. 1,” is a 14-minute masterwork. The trio embark on a multi-path sonic adventure that is comparable, in talent and execution, to Dream Theater’s 11-minute banger “Scarred” or Pain of Salvation’s 10-minute tour de force “The Perfect Element” or Transatlantic’s 14-minute epic “Suite Charlotte Pike.”
Says Massimiliano Pagliuso: “We chose this song because we consider it the most ‘complete’ from a structure and arrangements point of view. It’s a 14-minute suite originally written in 1996. It’s curious how the whole song came to me in a dream: everything, the story, the various sections, the vocal lines… I remember I rushed to record it on an old cassette recorder in order not to forget anything. ‘Atlantidea’ showcases all the elements of our sound, which, in 2021, is certainly more refined than in 1996, but I do not exclude that, already from the next album (which we are already finishing to compose), there may be further evolution.”
