The Ocean Official Thread

[Buddyhunter1]

Listen to Pelagial, it’s one of the best concept albums of all time. And there’s an instrumental version if you really can’t stand the vocalist.

Let Them Believe is probably their most similar song to Nascent so at least check that one out.

[Buddyhunter1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6hRFcVZFlA

New album's up on youtube already. Starting my first listen now

[Luoto]

The diverse vocal delivery will be among the first things people will notice about this album. We already had an early taste of it in Pleistocene but there's more.

After Palaeocene, the rest the album is actually quite trippy and progressive in contrast to Phanerozoic I, aside from the "kvlt" section in Pleistocene. Paul Seidel also makes his first lead vocal appearance for the band.

[Nachtmerrie]

I'm waiting for my cd to arrive tomorrow.

The three released songs make me pretty confident this album will be very high in my yearlist. Jurassic / Cretaceous is an amazing song.
Production and mix seem to be top notch.

One of my favorite bands. Their songwriting keeps getting better and better and I love their evolution into prog territory.

[Elite]

Already posted in the ‘What are you listening to’-thread, I got my copy yesterday. This album is outstanding. Excellent. This band deserves so much more attention.

[Crow]

gave it a spin, it's honestly pretty solid but it kinda feels like they're just treading water with this one (hah)

[Buddyhunter1]

Phanerozic I was better I think, but this is still good. The black metal bit in Pleistocene is neat, it'd be cool for them to do more stuff like that in the future.

[Luoto]

Phanerozoic II track-by-track part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzgSzWaWVNE

[Nachtmerrie]

Three or four spins and I'm pretty confident this album will be top 3 in my yearlist.

Absolutely love the diversity of the album. Epic and progressive without losing their typical sounds. I really hope they keep this lineup together, especially the drummer.

While the Pelagial and part 1 already have great production and mix this one really sounds fantastic, which could be expected with Jens Bogren involved.

Jurassic / Cretaceous is the standout track so far.

[The Realm]

This new album appears to be getting a lot of love, very positive reviews etc with many calling it The Ocean's best album. I'm a huge fan of the band and have been for many years so this is really great to see however, to me it falls far below its predecessor and far below Pelagial (which I consider a masterpiece). Jurassic / Cretaceous is an awesome epic up there with some of The Ocean's best songs but the rest of the album, which diverse just fails to reach any real epic highs. So yes, as a massive fan I still love it and have been listening to it constantly since release but maybe my expectations were too high because I am also disappointed.

[twosuitsluke]

I'll be honest, I wasn't overly impressed with Phanerozoic I. It was fine, but far from Pelagial levels of awesomeness. For me Pelagial is such a standout album for them that I rate it as one of the greatest metal albums I've heard in the last 5 years. Everything else by them just comes in at joint second place. It's all solid but nothing really blows my mind.

All that being said, the 1-2 combo of Triassic/Jurassic | Cretaceous is the highlight of this new album and the greatest thing they've done outside of Pelagial (and the odd song, here or there from their other albums), for me.

[Buddyhunter1]

One of these days when I have the time I'll have to listen to Precambrian, Phanerozic I and Phanerozic II back to back.

[Train of Naught]

I feel like they just get better with every release. I like every release more than the last, and I hope they can keep this level up, although I’m not sure how they’d possibly top the brilliance of tracks like Miocene | Pliocene, Pleistocene, Holocene, Triassic and Jurassic | Cretaceous. These are all career standouts for me honestly

[Buddyhunter1]

1: Pelagial
2: Phanerozic I
3: Phanerozic II
4: Precambrian
5: Anthropocentric
6: Heliocentric (granted I've only listened to this one in full once)

Haven't really listened to the first two albums. Also I never realized how many of their albums start with P

[Elite]

These are all career standouts for me honestly

[mike099]

After listening the Ocean catalog, my first purchase was Precambrian.  I love the 'in your face' feel of the album.  Plus it is was only 6.00 from Amazon for digital.

[Luoto]

Preboreal

Clock on their website is counting down to February 15th.

[The Realm]

This came out of nowhere? Just listening to Preboreal. Has a more laid back vibe, very cool. So is there going to be a new album?

[Buddyhunter1]

Holocene is out today!

Gave it a listen, it has a very different vibe than their other albums (very slow, almost sad at times), but there were some parts I really enjoyed. The beginning and ending of the album felt a bit underwhelming, but the middle of it seemed strong.

Also how the hell has it been almost three years since their last album? Feels like that came out just a little while ago.

[Dr. DTVT]

Also how the hell has it been almost three years since their last album? Feels like that came out just a little while ago.

COVID, then they toured a lot after Covid.  Then Loïc broke both of his legs.

[The Realm]

Holocene is out today!

Gave it a listen, it has a very different vibe than their other albums (very slow, almost sad at times), but there were some parts I really enjoyed. The beginning and ending of the album felt a bit underwhelming, but the middle of it seemed strong.

Also how the hell has it been almost three years since their last album? Feels like that came out just a little while ago.

Agree the vibe is a bit different. The album is growing on me and yes the middle part of the album is the strongest. Overall though really enjoying it.