As for 2013, 4 of 5 band members are from Switzerland, while its founder continues to live in Berlin. In addition, Chris Breuer, a touring bass player who also made a recording appearance on Pelagial, is a citizen of Berlin too. Breuer is touring member who is filling in for Louis Jucker (who has gone on hiatus due to his desire to finish university studies) for all shows in 2013, also has recorded some parts for band's 6th album "Pelagial" released in the same year.
The Ocean was founded in 2001 by guitarist and songwriter Robin Staps. During the following two years, about 40 musicians joined and left the band until a stable line-up was established. July 2002 saw The Ocean play their first concert at Berlin's now defunct semi-legal Eimer Club. Shortly after, the band released their eponymous debut album featuring Islands/Tides, a 30-minute-long song that also constituted the substance of their early live shows.
After a brief tour with Swedish crust punk outfit Coma in early 2003, the band signed to Make My Day Records, which then released Fogdiver, an EP consisting of five instrumental songs—despite the fact that on stage, at least two singers could be found. Unlike its predecessor, this recording received considerable acclaim from critics throughout a variety of genres.
During winter and spring 2004, The Ocean recorded what was to become the material for their two following albums. The calmer and more atmospheric half of this recording session was released as Fluxion in August 2004; a joint effort of Make My Day and Throne Records. While the fact that the band now used vocals on their recordings seemed to make the music more accessible to some, it also caused many other critics to consider the album a step backwards in terms of innovation and originality. In interviews, the band would comment on this by pointing out the perceived closed-mindedness of some of the reviewers and their supposed inability to deal with the harshness and brutality the anti-Christian, anti-theistic vocals now added to The Ocean's sound.
After signing to Metal Blade Records in summer 2005, all the remaining songs from the session were released as Aeolian. Since Fluxion and Aeolian had originally been planned as a double CD with a mellow and a brutal part — a plan that did not work out — Aeolian came across as very different from its predecessor. Unlike on previous albums, classical instruments and electronic sounds were hardly used here, making the record sound rather minimalistic. But whereas Fluxion had featured only one singer, seven of them could be found on Aeolian, among them Nate Newton, Sean Ingram, and Tomas Hallbom, whose names were also used extensively for the album's promotion campaign. According to the band, Meta's voice on Fluxion had created a monotony that was to be avoided on Aeolian. March 2006 saw the North American release of the album. Later that year, a joint vinyl version of Fluxion and Aeolian was released by Throne Records, featuring three records in different colors. Recently in late 2007, they released a new 2 disc album entitled Precambrian. In April 2008, The Ocean embarked on a year long tour through Europe and North America with bands like Intronaut, Opeth, and At The Gates. In April 2009 it was announced that primary Precambrian vocalist, and full time touring member Mike Pilat was leaving the band for personal reasons and other commitments.
On November 17, 2009, Robin Staps announced that a replacement vocalist had been found, Loïc Rossetti. The Ocean released two albums in 2010, Heliocentric on April 9 and Anthropocentric on November 9. Taken together, the two albums "represent a fundamental and philosophical critique of Christianity," with Heliocentric describing the internal battles within the Catholic Church over the heliocentrism of Copernicus and Galileo, and Anthropocentric critiquing the fundamentalist Protestant view of Creationism.
They announced that their first live DVD would be filmed on the 29 January 2011 in Berlin at the Museum für Musikinstrumente and will only contain tracks from their album Precambrian.
On August 3, 2011, The Ocean announced via its Facebook page that Robin Staps had been working on new material for an upcoming album. They stated that recording would get under way in early 2012 and hinted at the possibility of releasing another double album. In a September 2012 article on the website MetalSucks, Robin stated that the new album was due for an April or May release in 2013 and would have very few if any vocals, but elaborated that Loïc remains the vocalist of the group despite the change in style.
The band released Pelagial on April 29, 2013 in the United States. The CD version contained two discs - one has the songs with vocals, the other is purely instrumental.
On October 20, 2013, the band announced the departure of guitarist Jonathan Nido and drummer Luc Hess. It was later announced that Paul Seidel of the band War From A Harlots Mouth would replace Hess after the current tour. Additionally on the 8th of December Robin Staps announced via the bands Facebook page that Australian Damian Murdoch would be the bands new guitarist.
Firmament
The Ocean Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Let there be lights
In the firmament
Of the heaven.
Let there be lights in heaven to divide the day from the night;
And let them be for signs, for seasons and for days (and years);
And let them be for lights up there in the firmament
To give light upon the earth.
And it was so, and God made two, two great lights;
The greater light to rule the day,
And the lesser light to rule the night; the stars as well.
And God set them in the firmament
To give light upon the earth.
And to rule, to rule over the day and over the night
To divide darkness from the light.
Let there be
A firmament
In the midst
Of the waters.
(repeated)
And God said, let the waters bring forth, abundantly,
The moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly
Above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
...Or so do some people believe.
Above the earth in the open firmament
And to rule, to rule over the day and over the night
To divide darkness from the light.
Let there be
A firmament
In the midst
Of the waters.
(repeated)
The lyrics of Firmament by The Ocean reflect upon the creation of the universe as depicted in the book of Genesis. The chorus repeatedly refers to the creation of the firmament, a solid dome-like structure that some biblical scholars believe was created to separate the “waters above” from the “waters below”. The verses delve deeper into the creation story as God creates the stars, moon, and sun to provide light and to mark the passage of time. The song speaks of the lights in the heavens being a division of day and night, as well as a creation of signs and seasons. Finally, the lyrics mention the creation of life in the form of birds and sea creatures.
The song’s lyrics are open to interpretation, and it's likely that the band meant to explore the topic of belief in a higher power and the creation of the universe. However, the lyrics could also be interpreted as a metaphor for mankind's own search for meaning and purpose in the universe. Additionally, the mention of the “waters above” and “waters below” could point to the difficulty of understanding the universe beyond our physical world.
Line by Line Meaning
And God said, Let there be lights In the firmament Of the heaven.
God created lights in the sky. Some of them will be used to distinguish the day from the night, and others for guiding time, seasons and years. They will illuminate the earth giving it brightness.
Let there be lights in heaven to divide the day from the night; And let them be for signs, for seasons and for days (and years); And let them be for lights up there in the firmament To give light upon the earth.
Let's illuminate the sky with lit bodies such that we could distinguish between day and night, time seasons, years, and use other lights to brighten up the earth from the sky above.
And it was so, and God made two, two great lights; The greater light to rule the day, And the lesser light to rule the night; the stars as well. And God set them in the firmament To give light upon the earth.
God made two great shining objects, one for the day and one for the night along with the stars, and placed them in the sky to brighten the earth.
And to rule, to rule over the day and over the night To divide darkness from the light.
To have a system of distinguishing between darkness and light, an object be needed during the day and another for the night. Thus, they will rule over day and night to distinguish the two.
And God said, let the waters bring forth, abundantly, The moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly Above the earth in the open firmament of heaven....Or so do some people believe.
Some religious texts claim that God asked for many sea creatures and birds to fill the sky, above the earth, inside the spacious sky that illuminates the earth. This belief is debatable.
Above the earth in the open firmament And to rule, to rule over the day and over the night To divide darkness from the light.
Above the earth, in the spacious sky that illuminates the earth, there will exist living beings and they will rule over the day and the night to distinguish and separate the light from the darkness.
Let there be A firmament In the midst Of the waters.
Let there be sky that illuminates the earth in the midst of the waters.
Let there be A firmament In the midst Of the waters.
Let there be sky that illuminates the earth in the midst of the waters, reiterated.
Contributed by Lucy S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.