Post-metal greats The Ocean have announced their new double album, their 8th, later this year from their own imprint Pelagic Records. Phanerozoic will come in two parts, over the next two years, and will be the follow up to 2013’s epic Pelagial. The band has stated that their recently reissued 2007 Precambrian is the reference point for the new music.
Phanerozoic is the eon that follows right after the Proterozoic, the final eon in the Precambrian supereon. It spans the recent 500 million years in earth’s history, from the end of the Precambrian until the present tense. The Phanerozoic saw the evolution and diversification of plants and animal life on Earth and the partial destruction of it during 5 great mass extinction events.
The band has hit the studio at legendary Sundlaugin Studios in Iceland, where artists like Björk and Sigur Ros have previously recorded.
Leader Robin Staps commented:
“We were looking for an isolated place in a cold and beautiful environment, to get us into the right mood for making this record. The new album will start off bleak, cold and heavy… and then evolve and diversify throughout the 2nd half.”
Julien Fehlmann, who recorded all of the band’s albums since Heliocentric, will record drums again, and Jens Bogren has been confirmed to mix the album once more. Magnus Lindberg (Cult Of Luna) will contribute to the stringed instrument production.
Staps added:
“There is no reason to change a perfectly working formula. We have been working with Julien since 2009, and Magnus has mixed about half of the records I have released on Pelagic. Jens did a terrific job with ‘Pelagial’, and so we decided to bring all these gentlemen together this time.”