TOUCHSTONE — Oceans of Time (review)

Album · 2013 · Non-Metal

3/5 · 2014-02-09
adg211288

Oceans of Time (2013) is the fourth full-length album by UK progressive rock/metal act Touchstone. It continues the naming pattern of their previous albums, Oceans of Time being a phrase heard previously, at least as early as Wintercoast (2009), but overall brings some changes to what I've come to expect from a Touchstone release.

Representing a mellower Touchstone compared to the band which recorded albums such as The City Sleeps (2011) and especially Wintercoast, Oceans of Time is largely devoid of the metal edge that appeared on those prior albums. There are still riffs aplenty but they are clearly rock orientated with only a casual passing reference to anything that could be considered metal whereas previously Touchstone were always on the borderline between rock and metal and in my view Wintercoast at least was as much metal as it was rock. In other words nothing on Oceans of Time is going to hit as hard as earlier songs such as Wintercoast or Zinomorph.

As well as the decrease in the metal elements, Touchstone also made some changes in the way their vocals are delivered. While female vocalist Kim Seviour has always been the lead voice since joining the band for debut album Discordant Dreams (2007) there has previously always been a fair bit of vocal interplay between her and keyboardist Rob Cottingham, an aspect that like with the metal has been almost entirely dropped on Oceans of Time. We don't even get to hear Rob until six tracks in, during Shadow's End. This is a shame because as good as Kim is, and she does sound really spectacular on this album, Rob is also an amazing singer and the two worked well together.

I can't say I'm keen on either of these developments. Both the metallic riffs and the male/female vocal interplay were defining features of the Touchstone sound on prior albums and while the band still produced a decent bunch of songs on Oceans of Time, notable ones beings Fragments, Spirit of the Age and Shadow's End, it somehow feels bland and even a bit drawn out in places by comparison. It simply does not come across as being that memorable, or the sort of album that I expect Touchstone to make. They also rerecorded the Wintercoast song Solace; previously a mellow ballad, the new version is significantly rockier, but it loses some of its charm along the way, much the same way that the whole Touchstone sound has lost charm and appeal between albums.

Oceans of Time is still praiseworthy enough to be a positive experience, but Touchstone have fallen short of their own high standards with it. I respect an artist who sets out to do something different with a new album but throwing out most of what made you great wasn't the way to go for Touchstone, especially since they don't introduce anything new to replace those elements as such, but rather offered a stripped down and more accessible take on what they did before. I can't honestly justify any more than a three star range rating. This was quite possibly the most disappointing 2013 release I've heard. I'll always have a high regard for Touchstone based on what they did before this but such a regard does have to take a bit of a hit after an album like this one so here's hoping that Oceans of Time was just a hiccup in what has up until this point been an excellent career for the prog band and when we hear from them again they'll be back to form.

64/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/touchstone-oceans-of-time-t3298.html)