In anticipation of their upcoming new full-length, Pelagial, today THE OCEAN posts the second in a series of studio video diaries. Possibly their deepest and most profoundly sophisticated composition to date, Pelagial is a progressive musical journey written, recorded and to-be-performed-live as one, single, 53-minute piece of music. Mixed and mastered by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Katatonia, Witchcraft) at Fascination Street Studios in Örebrö, Sweden, the offering will be released as a double CD, which includes both vocal and instrumental versions of the album, on April 26th/29th (Europe) and April 30th (North America/world) through Metal Blade Records.
The concept of the album is made evident in its title. Listeners will be further submersed as they journey with the band, beginning at the surface of the ocean and plunging through all five pelagic depth zones: epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathyalpelagic, abyssopelagic, and hadopelagic. As one continuous piece of music, Pelagial’s tracks, or episodes, are connected by interludes of underwater sounds and samples taken from old submarine movies, which give the album a claustrophobic “Das Boot”-kind of atmosphere. “There are track marks, and there are actual songs built into this larger structure, but the whole album is a journey rather than a number of loose tracks… some riffs appear in the first two minutes of the album and then reappear thirty minutes later,” details guitarist Robin Staps. It’s an experience that will reward repeated listens.
Point your browser to the band’s Official Metal Blade Page to view the latest studio report where Loic Rossetti tracks vocals and talks candidly about the near paralysis of his voice.
Additionally, preorders are currently available for a very special acrylic boxset edition of Pelagial, released through Pelagic Records. These heavy acrylic boxes are still available in CD format (the vinyl edition is now sold out) and contain the CD digipak as well as an extra DVD with the Pelagial movie by Craig Murray, all of which will be “buried” underneath five thick acrylic layers, colored in different hues of blue, each layer reflecting one of the five pelagial depth zones. The layers will be silk-screen printed with additional artwork by Martin Kvamme. Claim your copy now at: http://www.theoceancollective.com/pelagial.
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