Metal for a New Massacre
Posted: 4/11/2008
Ambitious, powerful, stirring, epic, stunning, astounding; these are just some of the words used to describe Berlin Germany's THE OCEAN and their latest, highly praised, release Precambrian. The band that is known for pushing the boundaries of extreme music is finally coming to North America for the first time in their 7-plus year career, starting things off with dates in Canada in mid May. THE OCEAN will then head to the US for a full tour with support coming from Lair of the Minotaur, and Kylesa (co-headliner), Intronaut, Withered, and The Destro on select dates.
Make sure to visit the Legions of the Winged Octopi Tour MySpace page for details on how to win free tickets, merch, and CD's from The Ocean! http://www.myspace.com/legionsofwingedoctopitour
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THE OCEAN's first Metal Blade release Aeolian, which came out in spring 2006, made a colossal dent in the metal scene and proved this was a band not to be ignored internationally. The reactions to the album ' for the first time on a worldwide scale ' were indeed amazing. The disc was 'Album of the Month' in the Swedish Close Up magazine, while Kerrang! called it 'complex' and 'mercilessly tight', rewarding it with 4 Ks. Revolver gave Aeolian a 5 out of 5 ranking and stated: 'THE OCEAN make the guitar / bass / drums axis seem monstrously huge, bringing a symphonic richness to the music without sacrificing its ear-bludgeoning quality'.
At the end of 2006, the band commenced work on Precambrian, a double album which was released November 27th 2007. Its concept and album artwork evolve around the early days of our planet, when mother earth was a hostile and uninhabitable place devoid of life and reigned by fire, sulfur and streams of red-glowing lava. The two disk CD is composed of a mini-CD with 22 minutes playing time entitled 'Hadean/Archaean', and a full-length CD with 61 minutes playing time, entitled 'Proterozoic', both referring to successive geological eras. Guests on the album include Caleb Scofield (CAVE IN, ZOZOBRA, OLD MAN GLOOM), Nate Newton (CONVERGE, DOOMRIDERS), Dwid Hellion (INTEGRITY), Tomas Hallbom (BREACH), Eric Kalsbeek (TEXTURES) and musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
'The Ocean has delivered a record that is ambitious, stirring, and musically stunning. Prepare to be swept away.' Outburn
'Ambitious and epic, dense and orchestral' the extreme-metal equivalent of Pink Floyd's The Wall.' Alternative Press
'Full of cinematic breadth and orchestral majesty, it's easy to get lost in the album's 80 minutes of rhythmic sea changes and powerful riffing.' Revolver
''The Ocean do for earth science class what Mastodon did for Melville: make learning brutal.' Decibel
'One can never accuse The Ocean of doing anything with less than 147 percent intensity' The Berlin-based progressive and experimental all-encompassing extreme music collective are known for rewriting the rules when it comes to how a metal band is supposed to operate.' Metal Maniacs
''smoky, Badalamenti-inspired passages and heaps of classical instrumentation ('Orosirian, 'Calymmian') finding a healthy home during the ascents and descents through crooned dark rock, Mr. Bungle playfulness, Neur-Isis dirges and DEP/NIN electronica. Astounding work.' Terrorizer
'This is by and large The Ocean's finest hour' one of the best albums of 2007.' Metalreview.com
'Our jaws dropped to the floor from literally the first song of the bone-crushing first disc and remained there throughout the genre-defying, progged-out second disc' a true, bona fide ALBUM as opposed to a collection of songs.' MetalSucks.net
'If you hadn't yet heard of The Ocean, get ready to hear a lot about them. Precambrian is amazing.' Blistering.com
Guitarist and founding member Robin Staps had this to say about touring North America for the first time:
'It's not easy for European metal bands to tour in North America and we've been wanting to get over there for a long time, so we're very happy that the extremely positive feedback that 'Precambrian' has received in Canada and the US finally makes it possible now. I am particularly looking forward to playing in Canada, a country that has spawned many bands that were very inspirational to us, bands as different as Rush, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, and Arcade Fire..."
THE OCEAN
05/21 Toronto, ON Wreck Room w/ Catamenia
05/22 St Catharines, ON L3 Nightclub
05/23 Montreal, QC Lambi
Tour w/ Kylesa, Lair Of The Minotaur, Withered
05/24 Boston, MA Church Of Boston
05/25 Wallingford, CT Cherry Street Station
05/26 New York, NY Knitting Factory
05/27 Cleveland, OH Peabody's
05/28 Chicago, IL Reggie's Rock Club
05/29 Covington, KY Mad Hatter
05/30 Charlotte, NC Tremont Music Hall
05/31 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade
Tour w/ Kylesa, Lair Of The Minotaur
06/01 Orlando, FL Back Booth
06/02 Tampa, FL Brass Mug
06/03 Tallahassee, FL The Beta Bar
Tour w/ Lair Of The Minotaur
06/04 Metarie, LA The High Ground
Tour w/ The Destro, Lair Of The Minotaur
06/05 Houston, TX The Meridian
06/06 Austin, TX Red 7
06/07 Denton, TX Rubber Gloves
06/08 San Antonio, TX Rock Bottom
06/10 El Paso, TX Chic's
06/11 Farmington, NM Gator's
Tour w/ Lair Of The Minotaur, Intronaut
06/12 Tempe, AZ Clubhouse
06/13 Fresno, CA Audie's Olympic
06/14 San Francisco, CA Annie's Social Club
06/15 San Marcos, CA Jumping Turtle
06/16 San Luis Obispo, CA Downtown Brew
06/17 Hollywood, CA Knitting Factory
http://www.myspace.com/theoceancollective
http://www.theoceancollective.com