– November 5th, 2020 –
The Ocean recently released their 8th full-length album via Metal Blade Records (CD / digital) and the band’s own Pelagic Records (vinyl); Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic is their most successful album to date with the highest chart entries in the band’s history, including a phenomenal Top 10 entry in the Official German Album Charts.
Now, the band is releasing a stunning tour documentary from their 2019 Siberian Traps tour, which the band shot themselves. Presented by CVLT Nation, it can be viewed at: cvltnation.com
Robin Staps comments: “One of the greatest adventures with this band was the 5 weeks ‘Siberian Traps’ tour last summer, which started in Belarus, Armenia and Georgia, then took us on a 10.000km ride from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok, all across Russia and Kazakhstan from west to east, before concluding in Japan. We lived on trains for weeks. We had to leave half of our gear behind at the airport of Nur-Sultan, Kazachstan. We experienced the solitude of lake Baikal, the solemnity of Armenian monasteries, the exuberance of Georgian hospitality and the silent anonymity of Shibuya crowds.
Some of these moments were captured on film, by band members. We had no camera guy with us, nor any crew: this tour was just us. Our sound guy had second thoughts and bailed a week before the tour. Alex Kraudelt compiled these self-made snapshots into a silent documentary, after our return home.
We found the instrumental version of ‘Triassic’ to be the perfectly fitting soundtrack: also because parts of it were recorded during our one week stay in Yerevan, Armenia with traditional flutes and woodwinds player Hayk Karoyi Karapetyan, whom you will see in the opening and closing section of the film. The song itself was inspired by my own backpacking trips through the Middle East 15 years ago, long before the current wars ravaged the region.”
Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic can be streamed and purchased here: metalblade.com/theocean
“This is a dynamic conclusion to a saga 4,500 million years in the making, and it’s worth every second of the wait”. – Metal Hammer (UK)
“Where others ‘only’ make music, they design complete worlds and fill them with groundbreaking music.” – Metal Hammer (Germany)
“A work of the century, which will always have an exposed position in The Ocean catalogue.” – Deaf Forever (Germany)
“Spiraling virtuosity and epic arrangements.” – Consequence of Sound (USA)
“‘Phanerozoic II’ offers the silkiest possible blend of vocal delivery, balanced and groovy musicianship, postmodern atmospherics, and badass riffing.” – Invisible Oranges (USA)
“It has been a long time since I have been so completely blown away by an album.” – Powerplay (UK)
“While founder Robin Staps envisions concepts on the scale of aeons, tectonic shifts shake his music, fading out tired post-idioms and perpetual crescendos in favour of elegant progressive and pop influences.” – Wire (UK)
“The Ocean‘s new album is the testimony of a band pushing the envelope of the genre, while restlessly evolving in terms of innovation, cleverness, and dazzling musicianship.” – Sonic Perspectives (USA)
Tracked in Iceland, Spain and Germany and produced by esteemed studio guru Jens Bogren, Phanerozoic II is underpinned by some of the most imaginative and challenging music that The Ocean – completed by drummer Paul Seidel, keyboard maestro Peter Voigtmann, bassist Mattias Hagerstrand and guitarist David Ramis Åhfeldt – have made yet. Divided into two sections – Mesozoic and Cenozoic – the album once again showcases the detail and depth that have become two of The Ocean‘s most enduring trademarks. While ostensibly delving into the extraordinary realities of the Earth’s shifting temporal tides, Staps and his comrades have long drawn hazy parallels between their chosen subjects and the emotional experiences that their music strives to convey. Phanerozoic II is essentially an album about time, with some very poignant and pointed allusions to the modern world woven into the new music’s spiritual fabric.
Staps explains, “The outcome is a record that is a real journey. It starts in one place, and concludes in a totally different place. In a way, it relates to 2013′s ‘Pelagial‘, which was similar in that it was also a journey: but a more guided, focused and predictable one. ‘Phanerozoic II‘ on the other hand is closer to the experience of free fall.”
Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic track-listing
1. Triassic
2. Jurassic | Cretaceous
3. Palaeocene
4. Eocene
5. Oligocene
6. Miocene | Pliocene
7. Pleistocene
8. Holocene
The Ocean tour dates
w/ pg.lost, Hypno5e, Svalbard
Jan. 7 – Wiesbaden, Germany – Schlachthof
Jan. 8 – Colmar, France – Grillen
Jan. 9 – Paris, France – La Machine
Jan. 10 – Nantes, France – Ferrailleur
Jan. 11 – Toulouse, France – Le Rex
Jan. 12 – Bilbao, Spain – Stage Live
Jan. 13 – Lisbon, Portugal – LAV
Jan. 14 – Madrid, Spain – Caracol
Jan. 15 – Murcia, Spain – Gamma
Jan. 16 – Barcelona, Spain – Boveda
Jan. 17 – Bordeaux, France – Krakatoa
Jan. 18 – Lyon, France – CCO
Jan. 19 – Fribourg, Switzerland – Fri-Son
Jan. 20 – Lucerne, Switzerland – Sedel
Jan. 21 – Vienna, Austria – Viper Room
Jan. 22 – Prague, Czech Republic – Nova Chelmnice
Jan. 23 – Berlin, Germany – Festsaal
Jan. 25 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Pumpehuset
Jan. 26 – Hamburg, Germany – Bahnhof Pauli
Jan. 27 – Leipzig, Germany – Conne Island
Jan. 28 – Munich, Germany – Backstage
Jan. 29 – Essen, Germany – Zeche Carl
Jan. 30 – Osnabruck, Germany – Kleine Freiheit
Jan. 31 – Zwolle, Netherlands – Hedon
Feb. 1 – Cologne, Germany – Volta
Feb. 2 – Brussels, Belgium – Botanique
Feb. 3 – Utrecht, Netherlands – De Helling
Feb. 4 – Bristol, UK – The Fleece
Feb. 5 – Glasgow, UK – Slay
Feb. 6 – Manchester, UK – Club Academy
Feb. 7 – London, UK – 229
Feb. 8 – Brighton, UK – Patterns
The Ocean online:
https://www.facebook.com/theoceancollective
https://twitter.com/OceanCollective
https://www.instagram.com/theoceancollective
