Album Review. The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic (2018)

Hello, guys!

For my new review, I picked up a rather interesting work of the German team The Ocean, which rightfully can become one of the best conceptual themes of the whole 2018. For some reason, about The Ocean known only in certain, I would even say in close music circles. And in vain, because these guys know the secret of writing "the right music."

The Ocean Collective (abbreviated The Ocean) is a Berlin-based group that has existed since 2000. Surprisingly, their music stands out seriously, even among the masses of progressive metal. Apparently, the band’s creator and songwriter Robin Staps has found some kind of symbiosis for a variety of musical styles. Their songs contain elements of post-metal, sludge metal, avant-garde and even electronics. Shtaps likes to use a different definition - ambient soundtrack doomrock.

Studio work of The Ocean has received name “Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic”, from which you can superficially determine the subject / plot of its history. By the way, this is the first part of the conceptual work, which was written for last four years. And it is a kind of link in the conceptual chain of albums “Precambrian” (2007) and the subsequent “Heliocentric” / “Anthropocentric” (2010).

The lyrics of album affect the events of the Great Extinction. This is witness to the evolution of life, its destruction during the five mass events of extinction over more than 500 million years.

Robin Staps tries to draw parallels between what was millions of years ago and our time, often turning to philosophy. In an interview, the author compared the concept of the album with the theory of “eternal recurrence”, invented by Nietzsche:

"All that is, there have already been an infinite number of times and another infinite number of times will be repeated."

Partly, “Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic” is a philosophical jungle in which the musician tries to find some way of dealing with the cyclical nature of time and space.

Already with prologue Cambrian Explosion, album begins to reveal its subtle and emotional notes. It is a cascade of natural sounds, a moody, sad and memorable piano motif with ambient dissonance, which is a kind of counting that prepares the listener for a forty-minute journey millions of years ago: from the beginning of life to its decline.

“Explosion” is a kind of pre-apocalyptic state, ground for aggressive and complete lack of hope “Cambrian II: Eternal Recurrence”. In general, all seven compositions on the record are the cyclical nature of life, where one event is replaced by another. Mors Principium Est: extinction is the seed for the birth of a new life, doomed to repeat the fate of its predecessor.

I was very pleased to participate in the recording of the song “Devonian: Nascent” by Katatonia singer Jonas Renkse. Together with the frontman of The Ocean Loïc Rossetti, they managed to create an excellent lyrical tandem. Definitely my favorite track in the album.

The first part of the conceptual epic "Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic" (2018) is an impressive, complex and emotional work. There are intertwined soft and complex musical peripetias, which miraculously unite the theme, but nevertheless draw an ambiguous, or rather an incomplete image. The only thing missing in this work is its continuation, which, unfortunately, we will be able to hear only in two years.

And to complete my review, I suggest listening to the entire LP:

Thank you for attention!