THE OCEAN: New Album Samples Available

Audio samples of nine songs from THE OCEAN's upcoming album, "Heliocentric", are available for streaming at this location. The web site also contains what is believed to be songtitles and pieces of art that will be included in the forthcoming CD, although this has not yet been officially confirmed by the band.

Possible songtitles:

* "Firmament"
* "The First Commandent of the Luminaries"
* "Ptolemy Was Wrong"
* "Metaphysics of the Hangman"
* "Catharsis of a Heretic"
* "Swallowed by the Earth"
* "Epiphany"
* "The Origin of Species"
* "The Origin of God"

"Heliocentric" is due in stores on April 13 via Metal Blade Records. The effort is the first part of a two-album conceptual theme which will be completed later this year by "Anthropocentric". The latter LP is expected to arrive in October.

Berlin, Germany's PitCam Production recently conducted an interview with THE OCEAN mainman Robin Staps. Watch the chat below. (Note: The interview was conducted in German, with English subtitles.)

THE OCEAN last year announced the addition of Loïc Rossetti to the group's ranks. The addition of Rossetti marked the final step in a recent development within the band: after eight years of existence, THE OCEAN has transformed from a collective into a band. This doesn't mean that there will not be changes of lineup ever again. "I have been playing music long enough to know that people are usually in this for a limited time," commented Staps, "but the people I am working with now are the people I have always been looking for, and naturally, everyone else is much more involved than ever before."

The collective is not dead. As a matter of fact, the upcoming album will feature the largest number of additional musicians to date, mainly classical players. The band has spent the better part of the year working feverishly on their upcoming two albums.

(Thanks: The_Greek_Hoplite / Ashley Lee)