The first step is almost always the most important. Whether you’re beginning the process of writing a new album or getting your very first steps together as a band, it is ever so important to get things off to a good start lest you run the risk of not gaining momentum and holding back your creation from all that it can be. A band’s debut is especially subject to such pitfalls. It takes tenacity, focus, more than a little passion, and so much more to ensure that things come out right and true such that you’re happy with your piece even if there is great room for improvement. Not every debut is a masterpiece, far from it, but an establishing performance can be all one needs to keep an eye on a particular act in the future. Tonight, I add Oceans of Ash to my growing list of such names.

As the year has gone on, it demands to be understood that post-metal has been seeing quite a bit of success in how it can still be built. With there being loads of new and established talent coming out of the woodwork to show us what’s still possible, there’s little that can compare to new blood bursting forth into the scene and looking to make a name for itself in some form or another. Even a slight step in the right direction can be all that a band needs in order to offer up intrigue and captivate its listeners all the way unto the work’s end. Five tracks are all that adorn “Smoke Dreams” from Oceans of Ash, yet I would fight anyone who would say that the debut effort needs more in order to prove the potential that’s at play here. Heaviness with a deeply cathartic and raw edge that rarely relents such that things are always kept at a fever pitch; there’s a lot more going on throughout “Smoke Dreams” that what might initially meet the eyes and ears. Oceans of Ash draws from past experience and deep-seeded fury that are propelled forth at extreme velocity with post-metal simply making up the core of this sound while we see elements from all sorts of different genres play a part in makes this entrance a singularly bombastic time. While clunky at times, what “Smoke Dreams” lack in meticulously layered craftmanship is countered brilliantly by an undeniably raw execution that leaves absolutely nothing on the table in the way of peace, forgiveness, or peace.

There’s no way for me to ignore that there’s loads to improve upon all that has been thrown down here, but it would be an outright lie for me to say that what Oceans of Ash has accomplished in these five tracks are anything less than interesting from top to bottom. Hurling the listener into a vortex they cannot escape from whose winds whip with such speed and intensity that you’re locked in place, it’s the whole of “Smoke Dreams” that seek to whittle you down to your most base elements while always doing a damn good job at making want to come back for more.

LISTEN to “Smoke Dreams” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Oceans of Ash on Facebook here.

FOLLOW Oceans of Ash on Instagram here.