Progressive metal outfit The Ocean Collective have announced a new album Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic, which will be released via Metal Blade Records on September 25. The band have also debuted the first single from this upcoming project “Jurassic | Cretaceous” on SoundCloud, which features Katatonia’s lead vocalist Jonas Renkse.

“Jurassic | Cretaceous” is a 13-minute long track, filled with hard hitting guitar chords and drums, alongside some brooding brass sections and moments of soft melodic vocals, which eventually build up alongside the instrumental. The song is complete with a variety of unique sounds, with some synth lines and choral like vocals added in between the harsher parts of the tack.

This upcoming project is a sequel to Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic, a concept album based entirely around paleontology, that fits in surprisingly well with the group’s unique metal sound. While the tracks are heavily rooted in the concept of earth’s pre-history, with tracks such as “Cambrian II: Eternal Recurrence” and “Permian: The Great Dying,” they also tie in perfectly with modern day issues, as the former track explores a Nietzschean look at the human experience, while the latter explores themes of climate change and disaster.

This upcoming project was tracked in Iceland, Spain and the band’s native Germany, while featuring production from Jens Bogren. While the lineup has gone through many lineups over the years, the current members include guitarist Robin Staps, drummer Paul Seidel, keyboardist Peter Voigtmann, bassist Mattias Hagerstrand and guitarist David Ramis Åhfeldt.

“‘Phanerozoic II‘ is more experimental, more eclectic in musical style and direction, and more varied in terms of tempos, beats, guitar work and the use of electronics,” Staps explained. “This was an intentional choice: we wanted Part I to feel rather streamlined and to have a strong cohesion between the individual songs. We wanted to create a certain vibe to linger from the first until the last note throughout the whole record. We kept the weirder, more daring and more progressive material for Part II.”

Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic track listing

1. Triassic
2. Jurassic | Cretaceous
3. Palaeocene
4. Eocene
5. Oligocene
6. Miocene | Pliocene
7. Pleistocene
8. Holocene