REVIEW: Ocean Sleep - 0114 Deathcore

The MySpace deathcore revival is alive and well!

Ocean Sleep are proudly leading the charge in the MySpace-era deathcore revival, and with their new EP 0114 Deathcore, they’ve delivered us three tracks that serve both as a love letter to the genre and a bold statement of intent.

This is raw, scrappy, heavy-as-hell music, and it absolutely rips. Opening track ‘My Favourite Position Is 1st Place In Mario Kart’ lays it down right off the bat. With a tongue-in-cheek title and a pedal-to-the-metal approach, it’s a tightly wound burst of chaos that highlights everything Ocean Sleep do best. Fiery riffs, machine-gun drums and feral vocals entwine into a short, sharp shock of deathcore mayhem. A powerful opener, and a clear indication that this band haven't just come to play.

‘Monster Energy’ follows: starting with a slower, doom-tinged opening before kicking into a more stereotypical chugfest. The vocal performance is the real hero here; gutturals, screams, and all things in between are spat out with aggression and clarity. The instrumentation on this track doesn’t exactly break a ton of new ground, but it is solid, well-paced, and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Running for about two and a half minutes, it’s a brief blast of sonic violence that lingers.

The longest and most developed track on the EP, closing track ‘God Gives His Silliest Juice To His Silliest Goose’ is also the most concrete; Ocean Sleep really takes the time to let it unfold. The pacing is astute, from crushing breakdowns to introspective guitar moments to relentless blast beats. This is where the band exercise their songwriting chops a bit more, with dynamic shifts and some surprising flight paths that indicate a deeper level of musicianship. That title might be a lark, but the track itself is heavy duty; this is some serious underground heaviness. What 0114 Deathcore does better than most is lean into everything that made 2000's deathcore so exciting in the first place, while still managing to sound fresh and relevant today.

Ocean Sleep aren’t breaking new ground in the genre, but they do seem to be having a hell of a lot of fun with it, and their enthusiasm is contagious. If you’ve ever owned a band logo belt buckle, or posted your band poster on MySpace, this one’s for you.

Score: 7/10

0114 Deathcore will be released on April 4th 2025.

Words: Vee Richardson

Photo: Riccardo Cenci