Ockra - Infinite Patterns (2020)- Prog Doom clean, lyrical and philosophical

Infinite Patterns is the debut EP of Gothenburg Swedish trio, practicing a progressive Doom Metal, and that according to the self-description makes music with "great devotion in the dramatic melodies and vocal arrangements." It is then up to the listener to ratify whether the “great devotion” does justice to musicality or if it sounds artificial.

The album only has only 4 tracks, but enough music time. In a Dream is initially triggered by clean guitars and serene vocals, but accentuated by distorted riffs incisions that serve as a support for the unfolding of double vocals. The lyrics wander about the reality-dream duality, making a parallel musically with the dreamy prog-rock and the concrete doom metal sound. The next song Invisible Walls comes with the proposal to accelerate, showing a Stoner footprint, highlighted by the beautiful vocals. Again the lyrics discuss the limits of the mind and our mental bonds. Ruins is the musical apogee and the nadir of the journey, the mental ruin; where disappearing-forgetting-dying is echoed in the theme laden with weight and melancholy, but without musical exaggeration. Pendulum of Time closes contemplating the future. The rhythm gets more serious, the heavy metal here shows the emphasis on the bass's gravity supporting the distorted riffs. The lyrics justify the album art, when a supposedly wiser and more experienced inner wolf emerges, but due to the immutability of the essence cannot change the inexorable oscillation of the pendulum of time. Thus it lives condemned to go back from the future to the past, stationed in the curse of eternal retropy.

Ockra's first musical journey leverages expectations for the potential of this trio. The dramatic melodies and the vocal arrangements are indeed the highlight of the experience, and are connected in symbiosis with the philosophical theme. Infinite Patterns, however, evolves without long-winded musicality or exaggerated production, quite the contrary, the sound is guided by the mantra of less can mean more.

Tracklist
1. In a Dream 06:47
2. Invisible Walls 04:26
3. Ruins 08:00
4. Pendulum of Time 07:26

Final conclusion

Marcelo Hissa