ATP! Album Review: We Are The Ocean - Maybe Today, Maybe Tomorrow

The introduction of We Are The Ocean’s "Maybe Today, Maybe Tomorrow" starts with the sounds of someone entering a room and sitting down. Within 15 seconds, main vocalist Liam Cromby is sucking in listeners with a voice that is pure, clean and missing from modern day rock bands. After a minute and fifteen seconds of easing listeners into the proverbial pool, the album explodes, pushing listeners under into the crashing rock anthem 'Bleed', which was also the first single off the album.

They allow fans to come up for air with the musically lighter but lyrically heavier 'Young Heart', in which Cromby croons “Hello mother, hello father, can you hear me? Can you see me? I am trying to be better. Is it working? Am I ever going to make something of myself?” It’s the song that both young and old fans will be able to relate to as the band calls upon the fear of not becoming what they dreamed.

That is the last time listeners are warranted a chance to breathe as the rest of the album chugs on in heavy, fast paced tempo until the closing track, 'Chin Up, Son', which - consisting purely of acoustic guitar and Cromby's vocals - sends listeners out on a hopeful note. “I think about you every now and then, but I’m better off now,” he sings, recounting the something that ended for the better.

The growth and direction of the band are quite clear with this album and it will most certainly obtain them new listeners. Fans of We Are The Ocean will probably miss the unclean vocals of Dan Brown, who left the band earlier this year to focus on being the band’s manager, but Cromby makes up for the lack of a second vocalist by bringing some of the best clean vocals out there.

While it is a great release from the group, it isn’t without it’s drawbacks. It becomes a little stagnant in the middle as the songs blend together, but the tracks that they are sandwiched between make up for it wonderfully.

“Have I done right by you?” Cromby sings questioningly. Yeah, you most certainly have.

3.5/5

"Maybe Today, Maybe Tomorrow" will be released on September 18th via SideOneDummy Records.

Victoria Patneaude