The Ocean

Berlin-based the Ocean are an extreme music ensemble. Their hybrid sound joins progressive, atmospheric doom metal and electronica. Their music, always ferocious in execution, melds organic and electronic sounds with samples. They began an album series based on the earth's paleontological history with 2007's Precambrian. In 2010 they continued with two thematically linked titles, Heliocentric and Anthropocentric, reflecting on the sun and humankind's relationship to it. 2013's progressive Pelagial expanded those themes to include the sea, making it a standalone trilogy. 2018's Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic was a direct sequel to Precambrian and was followed by Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic/Cenozoic in 2020. The band's paleontology series concluded with 2023's Holocene. In 2000, Staps surrounded himself with fellow guitarist Andreas Hillebrand, bassist Jonathan Heine, drummer Torge Liessmann, percussionist Gerd Kornmann, and a variety of individually specialized vocalists, including Nico Webers, Sean Ingram, Nate Newton, Thomas Hallbom, and Carsten Albrecht. Inspired in part by the progressive explorations of Americans Neurosis, and wishing to compose brutal heavy metal containing lighter, atmospheric elements under strictly orchestrated parameters, the group issued two demos in 2002, Islands/Tides and Queen of the Food-Chain. They signed to Make My Day for 2003's five-track extended EP Fogdiver and followed it up with Fluxion in 2004. By this time, dozens of different musicians had been through the band's ranks. 2006's Aeolian -- recorded at the same session as its predecessor -- was the Ocean's debut for Metal Blade. Both albums have been described as "doom soundtracks." The hard-hitting, prog-tinged Precambrian arrived in 2007 and signaled the beginning of the band's modern era. A double album, it combined sludge with progressive music and a grandiose, sometimes orchestral vibe clothed in extreme, visceral heaviness. For 2010's Heliocentric and Anthropocentric (released just five months apart), vocalist Loïc Rossetti (who sings rather than growls) replaced Albrecht and helped to shift the group's focus toward a more spacious approach with larger textural and dynamic shifts. In April 2013, the Ocean released their most ambitious undertaking yet in Pelagial. Written to be performed as a single 53-minute conceptual work, its various sections virtually interact with one another. The package contained both vocal and instrumental versions of the album. The Ocean underwent lineup changes after Pelagial, and during their five-year tour. Drummer Luc Hess was replaced by Paul Seidel, and Australian guitarist Damian Murdoch took over from Jonathan Nido. They also added cello player Dalai Theofilopoulou, pianist Vincent Membrez, and Peter Voigtmann on synths. Their first release with the extended roster was Transcendental, a split album with Japan's Mono, issued as a preview to a joint European tour (the Ocean were still touring Pelagial), and to celebrate that Mono had signed to Pelagic. The long-player included one extended track from each outfit. "The Quiet Observer," the Ocean's contribution, was based on Gaspar Noé's controversial film Enter the Void. The split was issued at the end of October. After the Pelagial tour finally ended, Staps, as was his custom, retired to a secluded cabin near the ocean and wrote the band's next album. The Ocean entered the studio in February 2018 and began recording the two-part Phanerozoic. Based on the eon that succeeded the Precambrian supereon and spanning a 500-million-year period leading to the present day, it witnessed the evolution and diversification of plant and animal life on Earth, and the partial destruction of it during five mass extinction events. Conceptually and musically, the double-length Phanerozoic marked the band's first look back; the missing link between the albums Precambrian and Heliocentric/Anthropocentric, it was crafted as a direct sequel to the former. Recorded and mixed by Jens Bogren, the set's first single, "Devonian," also featured Katatonia's Jonas Renkse on lead vocals. Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic appeared in November 2018. Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic was due for release in the fall of 2019 but was pushed back a year. The concept continued the narrative arc in the Precambrian cycle. In July 2020, the single "Jurassic | Cretaceous" was released, featuring a return vocal appearance form Katatonia's Renkse. The full-length appeared from Metal Blade in September 2020, alongside a separate release of instrumental versions from the band's Pelagic label. It entered the German pop charts at number nine and peaked at five. Unable to tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ocean supported the album by performing two streaming concerts. They filmed and recorded the shows and released them in all formats the following year. With many pandemic restrictions lifted, the Ocean hit the road in mid-2021 and played across the globe for a solid year with few breaks. They spent the remainder in the studio recording. In January 2023, the single "Preboreal" proved the official announcement for Holocene, the fourth and concluding album in the Ocean's paleontology series. The single and video for "Parabiosis" were released in February. Appearing in May, Holocene reflected a different writing process. Songs on previous albums commenced with Staps offering a guitar vamp, vocal melody, or drum beat as the genesis for group collaboration. For Holocene, each song was based on an idea composed by keyboardist/electronicist Peter Voigtmann. He sent files to Staps during lockdown. The guitarist added more parts and sent them back, thus initiating a writing process that was only completed by the band working at either the keyboardist's rural studio or their own in Berlin. They also pursued a different mixing strategy than they had on previous albums with Jens Bogren. They farmed recorded ideas out to a number of professionals before deciding on Swedish producer and longtime band ally Karl Daniel Lidén.
© Thom Jurek & Eduardo Rivadavia /TiVo