Even with the name change, there have been people added and removed from the mixture with the newest members dating back to 2018. In total, if you include active members of the collective, inactive members of the collective, touring members, and session members, there have been over 70 individuals involved in one way or another. If you'd like an in-depth bio Metal Blade features one here that's excellent.
I got on the train with The Ocean on a previous album titled Pelagial which dropped in 2013. I was pretty blown away with the sound, and look forward to doing a deep dive into their catalog. However, it's hard to escape the influence and renown of this group's skills, music, and live shows. If you haven't yet checked them out, you should do yourself the favor. Today's track is the newly released "Jurassic | Cretaceous", which dropped July 1st, 2020. It features guest vocalist Jonas Renkse from Katatonia.
The song starts with a crunchy off and on syncopation rhythm that's quite fun to listen to. Synths and other instruments are slowly added into the mix as it continues. A second guitar is added in and layers some melody over the rhythm, which creates a very cool moment. Just as it starts to hook you the music drops out to this washed-out guitar riff with drumstick percussion. Vocals join in to create this tense and hypnotic moment. This moment is interspersed with some great chugging riffs. The vocals are excellent, they're not quite clean, but they're not quite growls either. Fear not, there are the occasional growls later in the track. They fit the sound of this performance perfectly.
Perhaps it's the animation but this track takes my imagination to a pit of primordial ooze, or to an early galaxy with masses of matter crashing together to create protoplanets. Roughly four minutes in, the music brings us to this quiet moment with a clean guitar riff with a nice layer of delay. Drums join in, and then vocals creating this excellent moment before returning to what seems to be the chorus.
What is working really well in this track is that these moments are woven in and out of each other while still feeling fresh, and new. The transitions are seamless. About halfway through there is a melodic break from the vocals that feature the intro riff again, but in a new context. The song switches to a dark moment with a somber piano sound with some synths in the background. It's very slightly reminiscent of the Stranger Things intro, but only just so. This section features a great bass solo/riff and the synths match the vibe of this track perfectly. At ~7:29 vocals come back into the song with this great harmony moment that's quite magical.
The music jumps to a new section around the 7:53 mark that is possibly my favorite part of the track. Musically it feels really strong, and the vocals are excellent. This transitions to another spacey interlude with clean vocals before swinging into this wall-of-sound moment at ~8:59 that's captivating. Around the 9:25 mark, the song starts building to its climax with this ripping riff. The mix is excellent and it's like being caught in a hurricane.
It transitions to a new section that is very close to a breakdown. Again, this song weaves in and out of its pieces and movements with ease. The songwriting is excellent. The chorus comes back, still feeling fresh before it segues to a melodic movement, which builds into this amazing Black Metal-esque movement that carries the album to it's crushing end. It's magnificent stuff.
This song is 13 and a half minutes of some excellent music developed and written by some extremely skilled musicians. I couldn't encourage you enough to check it out. We have a long wait to get to September, but it should definitely be worth it. In the meantime, you can catch up on all of their previous releases here on their Bandcamp.
This current iteration of The Ocean features Robin Staps on guitar, programming, and backing vocals, Loïc Rossetti on lead vocals, Paul Seidel on drums, Mattias Hägerstrand on bass, David Ramis Åhfeldt on guitar, and Peter Voigtmann on synths. You can pre-order their new album here via Metal Blade Records. Enjoy!
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