German atmospheric progressive metal enigmas, THE OCEAN, recently wrapped up two successful back-to-back European tours; one with math metallers The Dillinger Escape Plan and the other with legendary doom/atmospheric rockers Anathema. The tours coincided with the band's latest opus, Anthropocentric, released via Metal Blade early last month. Said guitarist Robin Staps of the two treks:
"Thanks to everyone who came out to see us during our recent European tours supporting The Dillinger Escape Plan and then Anathema. We've had an amazing time with both bands and would like to thank them for inviting us to join them.
It was a great honor and fun to share the stage with The Dillinger Escape Plan. I have been a fan of this band for more than 10 years and had a blast watching them destroy every single stage they got to, 33 nights in a row. We've all become good friends over those five weeks, [THE OCEAN vocalist] Loic [Rossetti] had been guesting with them on the song 'Sunshine, The Werewolf' for the last 10 shows or so, and Ben Weinman joined us on piano for 'The First Commandment Of The Luminaries' in return. It was awesome, there is some YouTube footage up there if you care...
The Anathema tour was equally amazing and came as a big surprise, as we didn't really know what to expect from this tour. We were overwhelmed by the positive feedback we received everywhere from Anathema's fans, as well as our own of course. We were the heavy band on this tour but it seems that the diversity of the bill was exactly what made it interesting for most people: the amazing Petter Carlssen opening up with an acoustic set, us following up with doom and destruction and then Anathema playing an epic two-plus-hour set most nights.
Thanks for watching and listening. Stay tuned and keep on truckin'."
Anthropocentric serves as part two of the concept explored on THE OCEAN's well-receivedHeliocentric long player, released this past spring. The concept at the base of both offerings is a critique of Christianity from varying philosophical and personal perspectives. Both records were recorded in the mountainous isolation of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, the highest elevated city in Europe, and recorded and mixed by their house sound engineer Julien Fehlmann.
"THE OCEAN COLLECTIVE have their own subgenre really (progressive avant-garde sludge-score doomrock, or whatever they call themselves)..." -- Ultimate Guitar
"If you didn’t think Heliocentric was heavy enough then this would be the album for you and if you still think it is still not heavy enough then you just might be from the Cenozoic Era. No intelligent life anywhere." -- Hellbound
"THE OCEAN isn't in the bizz for making a few decent tracks to stand out from an otherwise bland album. Quite the contrary, they are in the bizz for making whole albums into experiences," -- Metal Archives
"Talented is an understatement, in much the same way as saying the band is simply 'creative' would be selling them short. THE OCEAN are a thinking man’s metal band, challenging and accessible in equal measure." -- Lush Beat
"Anthropocentric is the aggressive counterpart to the dynamic melodies heard on Heliocentric." -- About.com
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