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Tag Archive: The Ocean

The Ocean To Release The Grand Inquisitor 10″ Vinyl EP

Feb.07, 2012

In case you forgot, The Ocean released two of some of the best albums from 2010 with their albums Anthropocentric and Heliocentric. On Anthropocentric, there is a series of three tracks that fall under the title ‘The Grand Inquisitor.‘ There was a fourth track that was only available on vinyl and limited European digipack, but now they’re all going to be released together on a brand new limited 10″ vinyl EP.

The EP is available with two different cover prints and is limited to 302 hand-numbered copies and comes with a download coupon for ‘The Grand Inquisitor IV: Exclusion From Redemption.‘ You can check out more information on this release over at The Ocean’s website. The EP is available for pre-order now (roughly $18.37 USD), so get on that while it’s still available.

- JR

Tags: The Grand Inquisitor, The Ocean

Thursday Redeems Itself As Bossk Announce Their Reformation!

Filed Under: General News

Feb.02, 2012

It’s as cold as Satan’s balls in London at the moment, and to compound the issue my heating is on the blink, I have a splitting headache, and I have one more day of work this week. FirstWorldProblems, I know.

Never mind all that though, because 2012 – year of the epic reform – has thrown up another gem in the news that Kentish post-metal outfit Bossk are reforming.

Who…? WHO?! I’LL BLOODY TELL YOU WHO!

Bossk were another one of last decade’s British metal rising stars who parted ways far too soon, releasing two phenomenal EPs and a live DVD (.1, .2 and .3 respectively) and having one of the most atmospheric live shows on the scene. The first time I saw them, supporting Envy no less, one guy in the audience just lay down in front of the stage and chilled. It was fantastic.

They also played with the likes of The Ocean, Cult Of Luna, Doomriders, Baroness and Torche in their time, to name but a few, and now they’re back. Speaking via their website, they revealed that “The time has come for the five of us to perform together again.” It’s been more than four years now, but it seems the draw of the music has called them back. I actually wrote a eulogy to the band a couple of years ago, and it appears my musical wishes are all coming true this year.

They’ll be starting off slowly, but will be recording a session with Daniel Carter of Radio 1 at the famous Maida Vale studios – including a new song – and playing at least two shows this year.

Drummer Tom Begley was in the equally tasty The Mire for a time, but it seems he’s now itching to get back to some Star Wars-related business. Sexy. In the meantime, feast your ears on this and get excited:

- CG

Tags: .1, .2, 3, Baroness, Bossk, Cult of Luna, Doomriders, Envy, Eyesofsound, The Mire, The Ocean, torche

Textures To Tour Europe With Sylosis In Early 2012

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Nov.28, 2011

Dutch progressive metal outfit Textures have announced their touring plans for next year, which include dates in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Poland, France, Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Czech Republic! That’s a whole lot of Europe.

What’s more, they’re taking along the very excellent Sylosis for the first run in early March. Dates as follows:

02/29 Koln, GER – Luxor
03/01 Aarau, SWI – Kiff
03/02 Romagnano Sesia, ITA – R’n’R Arena
03/03 Yverdon, SWI – ISC Amalgame
03/04 Wiesbaden, GER – Schlachthof
03/05 Vienna, AUT – Chelsea
03/07 Krakow, POL – Kwadrat
03/08 Warsaw, POL – Progresja
03/09 Berlin, GER – Magnet
03/10 Bochum, GER – Matrix
03/11 Tilburg, NET – 013

With support TBA:

03/28 Strasbourg, FRA – La Laiterie
03/29 Montpellier, FRA – Secret Place
03/30 Barcelona, SPA – Mephisto
03/31 Madrid, SPA – La Sale
04/01 Toulouse, FRA – Aero

Festival shows:

04/08 Schijndel, NET – Paaspop
06/30 Helsinki, FIN – Tuska
08/04 Vagos, POR – Vegos Open Air
08/11 Jaromer, CZE – Brutal Assault

Textures are currently touring the UK with The Ocean and Aliases. I saw the show when it stopped off in London on Friday, and it was all kinds of awesome – review of that soon!

If you missed it, we badgered Textures with your questions back in September when they joined Periphery‘s Frak The Gods tour. Man these guys are busy!

- CG

Tags: Aliases, Periphery, Sylosis, Textures, The Ocean

The Ocean Reveal More Titbits For Live DVD; Chinese Shows Look Like Most Fun So Far

Filed Under: Upcoming releases, Video

Oct.19, 2011

THE OCEAN – Firmament Above China Tour 2011 from Frameshock Productions on Vimeo.

Every time I see live footage of The Ocean I just want to see them again. Their support slot for The Dillinger Escape Plan in London almost one year ago helped make it one of the best shows I’ve ever been too, and I’m super stoked to see them when they come back next month with Textures.

They recently got back from playing a number of shows - including a couple of festival slots – in China, and they look awesome. I have no idea how burgeoning the Chinese metal scene is, but I’d wager they saw something special either way.

Which brings me to the above video, which serves as a trailer for the oft-spoken about documentary/live DVD that the band are working on as and when they can. Its current working title has been revealed to be Collective Oblivion, which sounds pretty rad to me if they keep it. It won’t be out until next year, but that’s fine with me so long as it lives up to everything I’ve seen so far. Seriously; those guys put some effort into filming good quality stuff with the very excellent Frameshock Productions.

- CG

Tags: Collective Oblivion, Firmament Above China Tour, Textures, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Ocean

The Ocean Premiere Spring’s U.S. Touring Footage

Filed Under: Video

Oct.13, 2011

You may remember earlier this year that German metal outfit The Ocean trekked across the North American continent with Between the Buried and Me and Job For A Cowboy, and by all reports they gave an excellent acount of themselves.

Don’t take our word for it though, as you can get a taster of the run for yourselves in this almost 16-minute video showcasing the tour from their perspective. Our own editor-in-chief is in the video himself, and half-way to super-stardom (what with his epically-touted review yesterday) already I’m sure. Peep it:

THE OCEAN w/ BTBAM & JFAC – U.S. Tour Blog – Part 3 from Frameshock Productions on Vimeo.

I have absolutely no bad words to say about The Ocean, and hopefully this will encourage you to turn up early for their set ahead of Devin Townsend on his fall U.S tour, which is going on right now!

- CG

Tags: Between The Buried and Me, Devin Townsend Project, Job For A Cowboy, The Ocean

What’s On Your ‘Frisson List’?

Filed Under: We Ask You

Oct.12, 2011

As lovers of music, we’ve all heard a song at some point in our lives that has given us chills. Nothing beats that moment where a certain melody or the climax of a song evokes a sudden jolt of excitement and flourishing emotion. The first time I heard The Ocean‘s “Wille Zum Untergang” (above), it’s almost as if I could feel myself moving with the music; my heart could have been beating in tempo as the song’s climax caused the hair on my arm to stick straight up. That wonderful sensation you feel when listening to powerful and moving music is called frission.

Last night I was on a bit of a ‘frisson binge’ as I called it. I took a break from the “full albums at a time” listening habit and made a playlist of a bunch of songs that have given me chills at some point, and it was a great experience. As it turns out, experiencing music that evokes emotional response causes the brain to release dopamine. We are quite literally getting high from the musical experience! Of course, as the playlist went on, the surges got less intense. You eventually build up a tolerance of the dopamine and it all kind of evens out after a while. Huge bummer, but what can you do?

So while I’m waiting for the feeling to come back, we ask you: What songs give you chills? After the jump, you can check out a few of the songs I put on my ‘Frisson List.’

View Full Article »

Tags: Between The Buried and Me, Fort Minor, Protest the Hero, The Ocean, Van Halen

Circle Tours The Square This Fall; The Chariot/Vanna/Listener In The Works

Filed Under: Tours and Rumors of Tours

Sep.23, 2011

Aaaaaaaand yet another awesome tour for you North American types this autumn, this time with seminal screamo outfit Circle Takes The Square.

CTTS have been quiet for quite some time now, but they’re set to release their new album Decompositions: Volume I sometime this November, and I’m pretty stoked on that shit.

There’s no set support, but most of the dates will feature several of City of Ships, Touché Amoré and Pianos Become The Teeth. A couple also feature Thou, who are rather excellent.

Here’s what we have at the moment:

10/22 Harrisonburg, VA – Secret show
10/23 Baltimore, MD – The Ottobar (feat. City Of Ships, Pala)
10/24 Philadelphia, PA – Pi Lam (feat. Gholas, Gods and Queens, Full of Hell)
10/25 Blacksburg, VA – 130 Jackson (feat. Pygmylush, Regents)
10/26 Greensboro, NC – Legitimate Business (feat. Pygmylush, Systems
10/27 Savannah, GA – TBA (feat. Howler, Indian Giver)
10/28 Gainesville, FL – The Fest 10
10/29 St. Petersburg, FL – Fubar (feat. Capsule, City of Ships)
10/31 Pembroke Pines, FL – The Talent Farm (feat. Touche Amore, Pianos Become The Teeth,City Of Ships)
11/01 Winter Park, FL – The Haven (feat. Touche Amore, Pianos Become The Teeth, City Of Ships)
11/02 Birmingham, AL – The Firehouse (feat. Touche Amore, Pianos Become The Teeth, City Of Ships)
11/03 New Orleans, LA – Dragons Den (feat. Touche Amore, Pianos Become The Teeth, Thou)
11/05 Baton Rouge, LA – Manship Theatre (feat. True Widow, Thou, Leaving)
11/06 TBA – TBA
11/07 Atlanta, GA – TBA
11/08 Athens, GA – TBA

More details to come on those last few shows, and we’ll try and get those to you when they come our way.

There’s are also tentative details coming through about shows from The Chariot with Vanna, The Crimson Armada, Former Thieves and Listener (whose frontman Dan Smith is the guy who does the intense spoken-word section on “David De La Hoz“). More details on that too when they are announced.

So fall’s looking pretty good for you guys as far as tours go. I’m not sure what the national coverage is like, but between the Between the Buried and Me/Animals As Leaders/TesseracT, Devin Townsend Project/The Ocean, Mastodon/Dillinger, Decapitated/Decrepit Birth/Fleshgod Apocalypse, Enslaved/Alcest, Kvelertak/Skeletonwitch, The Black Dahlia Murder/All Shall Perish, Ana Kefr and The Bled runs, you’re bound to be able to see something cool (unless you live in the arse-end of nowhere, eh JR?). Just look at that list. Phew!

- CG

The Ocean Showing “The Origin Of God“

Filed Under: Upcoming releases, Video

Sep.15, 2011

The Ocean played Germany’s Summer Breeze Festival in Dinkelsbuhl last month and filmed their set for a forthcoming live DVD (yay!). Being the generous chaps that they are they’ve released the video of “The Origin of God” above as a teaser.

Speaking about said release:

“…. and yes, that DVD. We’ve been speaking about it for a while now, right? Well, be assured that it IS still coming. The project has grown tremendously over the course of the past months. We have filmed the Heliocentric record release show in March 2010, the show at the museum for musical instruments in Berlin in January 2011, the show at the London Garage on our last tour and Summer Breeze Festival in their entirety. We’ve also had our documentary filmer Alex with us most of the time, and he has pointed his one eye on everything we’ve been through, the good, the bad and the vulgar…

Alex will also be with us for the upcoming tours. We have collected so much quality material by now that we’re thinking about turning everything into a documentary movie more than a mere music DVD. By the end of the year the “collection” process will be finished and we will spend the first half of next year on finalizing everything.”

I was only half-aware of something like this going on, and that the footage from The Garage might be included is especially exciting as I was there. Again, yay!

- CG

Tags: Heliocentric, The Ocean, The Origin Of God

Devin Townsend Taking The Ocean On Tour

Filed Under: General News, Tours and Rumors of Tours

Sep.09, 2011

The Ocean have the worst luck it seems. Surely, being robbed, having transportation issues, and having scheduling conflicts can really bring quite a blow to a band. Robin Stapps has joked on The Ocean’s Facebook that it must be God’s payback for all the mocking. Luckily for us fans, The Ocean try to keep a high morale, working hard and dedicated to their craft. Instead of giving up, they’ve made themselves available to come along in support to anyone having the means to bring them along. Well, as if we needed more reason to love Devin Townsend, as he’s picking up The Ocean for his upcoming headlining tour this October. Metalsucks posted about it this week, but now it’s official! Shit yeah, Devin. He’s like a guardian angel!

Check out the tour dates below:

Oct. 8-Station 4-Minneapolis, MN **Devin solo date**
Oct. 9-Intersection-Grand Rapids, MI **Devin solo date**
Oct. 10-Ravari Room-Columbus, OH **Devin solo date**
Oct. 12-Sound Stage-Baltimore, MD
Oct. 13-The Note-Philadelphia, PA
Oct. 14-Rock And Shock-Worcester, MA
Oct. 15-The Chance-Poughkeepsie, NY
Oct. 16-The Altar-Pittsburgh, PA
Oct. 17-Peabody’s-Cleveland, OH
Oct. 18-Harpo’s-Detroit, MI
Oct. 19-Reggie’s-Chicago, IL
Oct. 21-Black Sheep-Colorado Springs, CO
Oct. 22-Marquis-Denver, CO
Oct. 24-Troubadour-Los Angeles, CA
Oct. 25-Slim’s-San Francisco, CA
Oct. 27-Hawthorne-Portland, OR
Oct. 28-El Corazon-Seattle, WA
Oct. 29-Commodore Theater-Vancouver, BC

- JR

Tags: Devin Townsend, Robin Stapps, The Devin Townsend Project, The Ocean

The Ocean Probably Not Touring The U.S. This Fall After All

Filed Under: Tours and Rumors of Tours

Sep.02, 2011

Remember we announced last week that The Ocean would be conducting a pretty hectic touring schedule this coming fall, with dates in China, The U.S. and Europe?

Well they posted the following update early this morning, and it looks like bad news for those in America hoping to catch them.

“Today is a shit day. Our upcoming US tour just fell apart. We had been confirmed for quite a while for a direct support slot on a good 6-weeks US tour in October and November, and yesterday it was decided that this tour is now being postponed to late November into December. We are not available at that time. Our flights to the US have already been booked for weeks, and we’ve been left high and dry again… somehow we’re just not lucky over there it seems!”

Telling it like it is. Will we ever know who fluffed up? Probably not (although we can speculate if a big six-week tour raises its head in November/December). That said, I’m sure Robin and co. would rather not have wasted the money, and so might try and set something else up quickly so it’s not a total dud. You guys would still go see them, right? Anyway, bummer.

- CG

Tags: Robin Stapps, The Ocean