Intronaut, The Ocean, North

Very few bands can effectively mix intelligence with intensity like Southern California's INTRONAUT, who essentially walks a fine line between psychedelic brutality, captivating hooks and devastating yet unpredictable time changes. This is the essence of thinking man's metal and something so refreshing that it should serve as a vicious wake up call to masses forcing the entire genre to take notice.


5 silhouettes, their backlit bodies moving frenetically in front of the huge LED lighting rigs, flashing synchronized to every little change in the music: watching THE OCEAN perform live is an experience. The videos, the lighting and more than anything, the music - orchestral, dense and epic - all contribute to that certain atmosphere that sets THE OCEAN apart from most of their peers in the realm of modern day's heavy music. The lynch-esque play with darkness and dynamics make it easy for the listener to get lost in the dismal oceanic spheres.

"Epic in scope and flawless in execution, 'Precambrian' reinforces The Ocean as one of the most exciting names in modern heavy music. Behold mind-blowing metal on a wagnerian scale", ROCK SOUND (UK) cheered.
"Ambitious and epic, dense and orchestral, the latest album from Germany's premier thinking man's metal collective The Ocean features a dizzying array of musical and vocal styles, from Mastodonian prog jags and Fear Factory jackhammer blasts to ethereal electronics and florid classical instrumentations", AMP (USA) added, and DECIBEL (USA) found the album to be "…engrossing to the point where words don't necessarily matter. The Ocean do for earth science class what Mastodon did for Melville: make learning brutal".


"After two records of Pelican worship, the sextet's third LP added bad-cop-only mouthpiece in Kyle Hardy, and the riffage got rabid. Other than a few well-timed, delay soaked interludes, What You Were is all onslaught, smartly detonating triumphant melodies beneath the collapse and crush." - Decibel Magazine.