Towards the end of 2025, metalcore band Ocean Planet shared a brilliantly heavy track ‘Devastate’.By coupling a lot of pneumatic rhythms with a few guitar sounds that leaned further into an old school vibe, the recording took as many cues from the prog metal of bands like Symphony X as the tougher edges of the likes of Killswitch Engage. Whatever label you’d care to pin on their work, however, the recording made it very clear that Ocean Planet meant business, and would be an act to watch out for in 2026.

This follow up, the non-album ‘Siege Machine’, actually pre-dates ‘Devastate’ – having appeared on streaming services in the middle of 2025 – but is getting a welcome re-promotion for 2026.

Opening with a huge prog metal riff where grinding notes are placed against a busy rhythm, the arrangement immediately catches the ear, and this is used to create an incredibly buoyant feel throughout the bulk of the next five minutes. The interplay between the musicians is immense, and even when the groove-laden edges subside to reveal incredibly heavy passages that draw from a more “traditional” metalcore sound, things remain very tight.

As before, the heavy, pneumatic edges are complimented perfectly by a hardcore vocal, but it’s the instrumental moments that truly shine here. An extended guitar solo introduces a few cleaner tones, firstly presenting a repetitive circular riff, and then by exploring an eastern inspired melody. The latter part of this gives the feeling that Ocean Planet are leaning a little more into extreme prog metal once more, especially with the lead work sounding pretty much flawless.

Although everything is incredibly heavy, those keeping a close ear will uncover a few great melodies along the way: a slower passage leading into a chorus allows the riffs to breathe a little more easily, and a huge sounding, clean vocal supplied by a guesting Keller Maxwell brings an important sense of balance to this intense workout. There’s also the reappearance of the eastern sounding guitar melody lurking beneath the sledgehammer riffs at the climax of the track, bringing a layered feel that really highlights the intricacy of the recording, which has “gone through a ten year refinement process.”

This is great, but much like the bulk of the Ocean Planet album, it really doesn’t pitch itself at anyone not utterly invested in the metalcore/extreme prog crossover sound, but then, it doesn’t pretend otherwise. This is a brilliant, genre-stretching slab of heaviness that’s genuinely impressive.

Take a listen to the slightly abridged “single” version of ‘Siege Machine’ below.