Post-metal masters The Ocean and avant-garde rockers Mono are releasing a split EP together this fall on Metal Blade dubbed Transcendental. Comprised of one song from each band, the release will run 24 minutes in total length, with one long composition from each band. LA-based German cover artist Florian Bertmer was commissioned to create the cover art based on the themes of the album. The split EP will be released on a single 12″ slab of vinyl in different colours, as well as on CD and digitally worldwide through Pelagic Records. The past touring partners will also undertake a new string of live dates together as well to celebrate the release.

The Ocean, by Echoes In The Well Photography

The Ocean’s contribution, a 13 minute song entitled ‘The Quiet Observer’, was inspired by Gaspard Noe’s controversial movie Enter The Void. The main character of the song enters what is referred to as the “intermediate state” according to the Bardo Thodol, the “Tibetan Book Of The Dead”. The track will also mark the recording debut of new band members for The Ocean: drummer Paul Seidel, and Australian guitarist Damian Murdoch. Also filling out the lineup will be cello player Dalai Theofilopoulou and piano player Vincent Membrez, who already played on Pelagial. This extended lineup will be seen on the upcoming tour.

Mono’s track will be an 11-minutes song, ‘Death in Reverse’. The song serves as a trailer for the upcoming 9th Mono album, coming in early 2016 release via Pelagic Records.

Guitarist and main song writer Takaakira Goto comments:

“The theme of this track is life and death and regeneration. Even when our bodies decay and decompose, our souls will prevail unchanged. Our bodies will act as seeds for the next generation, while our souls will journey together into our new eternal life. This is the story we want to explore with our next album, a portrayal of our journey through life towards death; from living out our lives proud and high, to bodies immolating, infused with precious memories… and through the vast, noisy tunnel of space, we become pure souls – a single drop of water in the fountain of life.”

The Ocean and Mono tour dates:
Oct 12: Voxhall – Aarhus, DK
Oct 13 Vulkan Arena – Oslo, NO
Oct 14 Debaser Medis – Stockholm, SE
Oct 16 Klubi – Turku, FI
Oct 17 The Circus – Helsinki, FI
Oct 18 Zal Ozhidaniya – St. Petersburg, RU
Oct 19 Volta – Moscow, RU
Oct 21 New York – Vilnius, LT
Oct 22 Proxima – Warsaw, PL
Oct 23 Heimathafen – Berlin, DE
Oct 24 Romein (Into the Void)- Leeuwarden, NL
Oct 25 Trix – Antwerp, BE
Oct 26 Live Music Hall – Cologne, DE
Oct 27 Schlachthof -Wiesbaden, DE
Oct 28 Backstage – Munich, DE
Oct 29 Locomotiv – Bologna, IT
Oct 30 Bloom – Mezzago, IT
Oct 31 CCO Villeurbanne – Lyon, FR
Nov 01 Bikini – Barcelona, ES
Nov 02 Le Metronum – Toulouse, FR
Nov 03 Les Docks – Lausanne, CH
Nov 04 Harterei – Zurich CH
Nov 05 Trabendo – Paris, FR
Nov 06 Electric Ballroom – London, GB
Nov 07 Damnation Fest – Leeds, GB
Nov 08 Fuzz Clubb – Athens, GR
Nov 09 Garajistanbul – Istanbul, TR
The Ocean online

Mono online