OCEANO’S ADAM WARREN: THE METALSUCKS INTERVIEW
As today would never have been possible without Oceano, it’s only right that we hear directly from the voice of that band, Adam Warren. Below, check out his comments on the response to Depths, the concept behind the upcoming Contagion album, and labeling his music “deathcore.”
So, a year ago, MetalSucks published a 5-out-of-5 review I wrote of your debut album Depths that caused quite a stir. You, in turn, ended up quoting from it on your MySpace page. Thanks! How do you feel about the overall critical reaction to that record?
The overall reaction to the record has been really solid and well received among long time fans as well as helping us grab the interest of new ones. It really helped further get our name out there along with landing us a lot of touring opportunities in support of it.
I’ve heard that your forthcoming record, Contagion, is a concept album.
Yes it is!
What kind of story are you trying to tell? Is there a particular message or lesson you hope fans will derive from your lyrics?
Each song in Contagion further elaborates towards the story of a highly fatal contaminant which is created and exposed with the intent of the public blindly surrendering their rights unto the government for “protection.” Essentially, Contagion is an exaggerated scenario of how government utilizes their power to control the population through lies and deciet.
You guys only recently started using a band Twitter account, quite surprising considering many of your peers were really active on the site. What took so long? Do you see the value in this type of direct communication with your fans?
Yeah it took a while but we’re on there! Its just so hard and stressing nowadays to keep up with the trends of the internet and this whole social network crap to me, is getting out of hand. There’s too many to keep up with. I never had nor will be into the whole Twitter craze, but from a business aspect, the more outlets available to spread the word about your music, the better. So it took some compromising but it seemed almost essential for the band in keeping up with the times.
You recently substituted for vocalist Alex Koehler on Chelsea Grin’s Canadian tour as he was recovering from a jaw injury. Did it feel strange getting up there and shouting somebody else’s lyrics?
The initial show was definitely a bit nerve wracking as it wasn’t my band and I didn’t want to botch anything or potentially ruin the experience for any devoted [Chelsea Grin] fans. But after getting on stage, the jitters subsided and we all felt the tour went very well, especially for learning their entire set in about a week. I felt quite accomplished. It was my first experience of that sort.
We recently ran a poll on the site asking our ever-opinionated readers what they thought about “deathcore vocals.” The overwhelming majority was actually quite negative, with a prevailing sentiment that many of the subgenre’s frontmen were interchangeable. As Oceano’s voice, how do you respond to this sort of stereotyping?
Well, to single out the genre of “deathcore” and its vocals is very hard. I personally denounce the very existence of the said genre, but to do so you must almost compare more true death metal vocals in the same light. I think there are plenty bands whose vocals can be interchangeable in metal as a whole. So I think that’s just a closed minded prejudgment to an otherwise taboo style of music in the eyes of certain metal purist. But I welcome any and all criticism or judgment. Some are just ignorant and created to get a rise out of someone which is just laughable. Others, are a good mechanism to drive oneself to prove the haters wrong.
Oceano’s forthcoming album, Contagion, will be out November 9 on via Earache Records. Pre-order it here.
-GS
