AS IN GARDENS, SO IN TOMBS

2023 release. It's rare for a band to commandingly return with their best effort to date, but Finland's... And Oceans are here to prove that 2020's Cosmic World Mother was the sound of creative floodgates bursting through into a new body of water, an ocean if you will. Everything that... And Oceans' first full-length in 18 years did well blistering symphonic black metal, heady themes that dealt with the connection between philosophy and psychics, and... And Oceans' trademark adventurous songwriting As In Gardens, So In Tombs manages to eclipse and recontextualize. It's the sound of a band seizing every ounce of momentum and upping the ante in every way. While... And Oceans has never written the same album twice, in many ways, their latest sounds like an opportunity for the Finnish group to pick up and improve upon what they started. Symphonic black metal is never this fun, free, and fantastic.