the ocean collective – Nine Circles

Scholar of the First Sin: Hera’s Best of 2023

January 2, 2024January 2, 2024HeraLeave a comment

Yes, I have come out of the well to shame mankind for their lack of knowledge.

Last year, I supplied a list of 20 albums, which took a lot of time to cut down – so much so that albums that were close to making the list ended up in my honorable mentions. However, this year, I decided to be more critical about the albums I wanted to place here, and now the list has been made.

Welcome to ~~the remnants of the cutting room floor~~ EOY list season!

Here’s the drill: there are 20 15 albums on this list, and I reviewed some of them. EPs, as always, are off the list, and I have also added the new rule of not adding metal-adjacent albums. This means that Insomnium’s brilliant Songs of the Dusk and Einar Solberg’s fantastic 16 will not be appearing here. As is customary the list is divided into four parts, which are as follows:

the Nebulous, where any of those albums’ placements could be placed anywhere at any time;
the Hypothetical, where the albums’ placements are more concrete, but can also be moved around;
the Theoretical, where the albums’ placements have been solidified; and
the Top album of the year.

Also, please note that I did previously submit a list to our benevolent editors that depicted an initial draft of albums I wanted to include on this list. However, since that submission, I have moved items around, and now, I believe my list is set in stone.

Without further ado, here we go!

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CANTO: The Ocean, Wolfheart, Omega Infinity, and More

February 6, 2023February 6, 2023CoreyLeave a comment

FINALLY some news I was seriously anticipating…

The Ocean are releasing Holocene on May 19 through Pelagic Records (obviously). Preorders don’t start for another week, so for now I’ll link you back to “Preboreal”.
Omega Infinity unveiled a new track today, titled “Death Rays, which features Lindsay Schoolcraft. Give it a listen here. The Anticurrent is out on February 24 through Season of Mist.
Mast Year, the post-hardcore collective out of Baltimore, is releasing their debut album, Knife, on April 7 through Grimoire Records. Give the title-track a listen over on Bandcamp.
NYC-based progressive metal outfit Ice Age are releasing their third album, and first in 22 years, on March 10. Waves Of Loss And Power will be out through Sensory Records, and you can listen to “The Needle’s Eye” here.
We’ll wrap up Monday with some melodic death metal. The new video from Wolfheart for “Fires Of The Fallen” can be seen below. That track is taken from King of the North, which is out now through Napalm Records.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

CANTO: The Ocean, Insomnium, Acid King, and More

January 17, 2023January 17, 2023CoreyLeave a comment

Holy shit a lot happened today.

And since this is my post, we’re going to start off with my favorite. The Ocean Collective unveiled a new track today, titled “Preboreal”. The lyric video for that track can be seen here. Not a whole lot of other information has emerged surrounding this, but it’s obvious something awesome is on the horizon.
Acid King are returning with a new album on March 24th, titled Beyond Vision, an effort that will be available through Blues Funeral Recordings. A sample of the new collection is streaming over at Revolver, specifically for “Destination Psych/Beyond Vision”.
Full of Hell and Primitive Man announced a 5-song collaborative release titled Suffocating Hallucination. That will be released on March 3rd through Closed Casket Activities, and the first single, “Rubble Home”, is available now.
The Black Dahlia Murder are returning to the stage for “The Verminous Remnant Tour 2023”, which runs from April 14th through May 26th. They’ll be joined by Terror, Frozen Soul, Fuming Mouth, and Phobophilic.
Closing out, we have another personal favorite. Insomnium debuted a new single, titled “The Witch Hunter”, with an accompanying music video. You can give that a watch below. That track, obviously, is taken from Anno 1696, an album set for a February 24th release through Century Media.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

Concert Review: Katatonia, The Ocean, and Cellar Darling, 11.10.2022

November 25, 2022November 23, 2022CoreyLeave a comment

My last show in 2022, and perhaps for quite some time looking ahead, certainly was a good one. When Katatonia announced a run of North American shows with support from my favorite band in The Ocean Collective, as well as Cellar Darling, I knew that was something I simply couldn’t miss, no matter what else was going on in the world. Well, it turns out I put that stance to the test. The November 10 date at the Worcester Palladium fell in the middle of an unexpected move from the seacoast of New Hampshire to the heart of the White Mountains. Regardless, the long journey on a work night proved more than worth it, and offered a rewarding break from all of life’s other forms chaos. It’s not often an opportunity to photograph two of your favorite bands on the same night emerges, and this experience was certainly one to remember for some time.

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Concert Review: The Ocean and Leprous, 3.23.2022

April 5, 2022April 4, 2022Hera1 Comment

The pandemic had robbed us of the joys of going to a concert, but with some regulations in force — such as masking and providing proof of vaccination — tours have finally resumed. When I heard that The Ocean was coming into town as support for Leprous on their North American tour, I decided to go, everything else be damned. Given that these bands had both placed high in my EOY lists over the last few years, I was excited (if not a little anxious) to go and see them. I had high expectations for a great show, and — spoiler alert! — they delivered.

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