Oceansize - 'Catalyst' (Beggars Banquet)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
How to fit an entire five decade's worth of ideas into one song is becoming what Oceansize are deservedly renowned for, and 'Catalyst' isn't about to stop the trend.
What starts off as a piece that wouldn't sound out of place on a Killing Joke record suddenly, and deftly, mutates through twinkling guitars, breakdowns sparsely populated with grating chords, off-kilter time-signatures, killer choruses and pounding riffs one after the other.
By the end of the ordeal, its beginnings are unrecognisable, as is your new conception of how a decent rock single should sound (hint - more should sound like this one). And with such a sheer amount of ideas fluttering around, it's a wonder 'Catalyst' isn't a complete mess... Somehow, it seamlessly slides from one seemingly completely unrelated section to the next, utterly fluid-like.
And then it has the audacity to just, well, end - right as it was beginning to really tighten its grip on our attention, too. For all the unpredictability of it, we didn't expect that to happen. But if a sign of a great record is that it makes you actually miss the way it sounds when it's over, with one this startling, you'll be positively pining.
Artists in this article: Oceansize
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