Windmills by the Ocean

Instrumental music is something i'm becoming very interested in to hear lately. At first, it took me a while to become accustomed to the lack of vocals, but as I do tend to listen to a fair bit of black metal where the vocals are indecipherable anyway, I questioned myself and why it took me as long as it did to appreciate music without vocals.


So, I came across this American sludge band, Windmills By The Ocean. It stated that they are instrumental and as my interest in both the sludge and instrumental field had been tickled, I decided to give this self-titled full-length a try. When it comes to sludge, I generally don't like the vocals that much. That can take away from the music as they tend to be extreme screams overawe the part that the instruments are playing. Therefore the lack of vocals was perhaps a plus to this self-titled record. It allows the listener to follow closely and without obstruction what is doing what.


Essentially, Windmills By The Ocean are a repetitive band. Looping the same riff over and over again. This could perhaps be seen as rather tedious by some listeners, but I quite enjoyed it. The looping of material allowed me to become familiar with what Windmills By The Ocean were trying to create, an atmospherically pleasing record. Whether they achieve that or not is entirely up to you to decide. In my opinion, they do a competent job without ever really excelling. Which is a shame, Windmills By The Ocean showcase a vast array of talents and potential that could make transform them into a great band, but they're not quite there yet. They have already mastered the capacity to be able to produce some ear pleasing riffs that repeat in order to entice the listeners emotions into the mix.


There are times when I couldn't help but think of the comparison to Devin Townsend's own band, which is rather odd considering the vast difference in genres, but genres were always confusing anyway. To me, there isn't an awful lot of sludge in this. The heavy sounding production is an element of sludge, as well as the low tuning, but it isn't that low and Windmills By The Ocean act as if they're more of a post-rock band than anything. The slightly confusing nature of the music may perhaps detract from what is desired here, but it shouldn't be too much of an issue.


In conclusion, Windmills By The Ocean are a repetitive band that create some catchy riffs that are looped over one another, but simply put, aren't that affective.