On the heels of their massive, sprawling ‘Permian,’ The Ocean Collective have unleashed another piece of their highly anticipated upcoming album: ‘Devonian: Nascent‘
Proving again why they are one of the most respected groups in the contemporary prog-metal world, ‘Devonian‘ takes a completely different turn than their previous single, in part due to the vocals of Jonas Renkse, of Swedish metal giants Katatonia.
The collaboration has long been in the making, explains Renkse: “Robin approached me for a guest spot already in 2005, and I really wanted to be part, but at that time we were in the studio ourselves recording ‘The Great Cold Distance’ so I felt I had too much on my mind. We have met after that and talked a little about doing something and now it finally happened. ‘Devonian: Nascent’ became a mammoth track without ever losing its initial melancholy.”
Adds THE OCEAN mastermind, Robin Staps, “We sent Jonas the track, and what we got back as a “demo” was almost identical with what ended up as the final version on the record. Jonas has a perfect and intuitive understanding of our music, there was no need to explain anything. He came up with his own vocal parts and lyrics, and everything just fit perfectly from the start. Katatonia’s ‘The Great Cold Distance’ was an important album for me and for The Ocean, it was one of the first albums where heavy, low-tuned guitars and clean vocals next to one another were actually working out for me, personally. It was an album that made me reconsider my opinion about clean vocals in metal, and that forged my own desire to look for a vocalist for The Ocean who could also deliver cleans.”
The Ocean, will release volume one of their highly anticipated 8th studio album
Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic via Wild Thing Records in Australia on Friday, November 2.
THE OCEAN WILL HEADLINE
PROGFEST 2019
Saturday, January 26: The Croxton, Melbourne
Sunday, January 27: The Factory Theatre, Sydney
Monday, January 28: The Valley Drive In / The Brightside, Brisbane (Public Holiday)
Tickets available now from wildthingpresents.com
