Cait Stoddard February 16th, 2023 - 7:27 PM
Today German metal band The Ocean returns with the follow-up to their critically acclaimed Phanerozoic double album: Holocene. The new album sees the band adding a closing chapter to their inspired album series which presents a shift toward the electronic world while reaching new depths of heaviness at the same time.
In light of their upcoming album, The Ocean have shared a music video for “Parabiosis” which was filmed on tour in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. The video shows the artificially-aged band members sign up for an eternal youth program and shows the band aging in reverse.
In the press release The Ocean discusses the meaning behind “Parabiosis.”
It is about stem cell research and the cosmetics industry’s war against aging and our society’s quest for rejuvenation elixirs, plastic surgery etc, which leads to the question of— how far can and shall we go regarding bio-engineering and medicinal progress?”
The band adds: “The cult of eternal youth has lead to death being hidden from our everyday lives. You literally see no old people in our modern inner cities anymore, everyone is young and healthy and the sick and dying are locked away in clinics and retirement homes where they won’t remind the general public of the fact that we are all going to die one day, which keeps us stuck on a hamster wheel of spending the time of our lives working jobs we hate to afford things we don’t need…”
Also in the press release band member Robin Staps explains the writing process behind Holocene.
“The writing process of every album we’ve ever made started with me coming up with a guitar riff, a drumbeat or a vocal idea. This album is different since every single song is based on a musical idea that was originally written by Peter.”
Staps adds:”Peter came up with these amazing synth parts that were already sounding huge in pre-production, and he sent me some of those raw, unfinished ideas during mid lockdown 2020… and while it was all electronic, it had that definite Ocean vibe to it. It made me want to pick up my guitar instantly… and so I did, and it didn’t take long until we had an inspiring creative exchange that was heading towards totally unforeseen but very exciting places.”
Holocene Tracklist
- Preboreal
- Boreal
- Sea of Reeds
- Atlantic
- Subboreal
- Unconformities
- Parabiosis
- Subatlantic
