German prog metal favourites The Ocean have announced the impending end of their current lineup.
The collective, founded by guitarist Robin Staps in 2000, will play one last run of shows across mainland Europe in December 2024 and January/February 2025 before returning in a new form later down the line. They’ll play their latest album, 2023’s Holocene, in full during the dates, as well as selected cuts from two previous releases Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic (2018) and Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic/Cenozoic (2020). Tickets to the dates go on sale Friday, September 20, at 10am local time.
The Ocean comment: “All good things will eventually come to an end, and so will we. These are our final shows with the current lineup.”
The band haven’t specified who will be leaving and who will be staying, but it’s safe to assume that Staps, their sole original member, will remain in the fold. The guitarist acts as the collective’s lead lyricist and composer, as well as their manager and the head of their record label, Pelagic.
The Ocean were joined by their current singer, Loïc Rossetti, in 2010, before the release of double album Heliocentric and Anthropocentric in 2010 and 2011. He’s also sung on their lauded 2013 album Pelagial, as well as the Phanerozoic duology and Holocene. Drummer Paul Seidel joined in 2013, bassist Mattias Hägerstrand joined in 2015 and guitarist David Ramis Åhfeldt joined in 2018. Keyboardist Peter Voigtmann was also in the lineup from 2018, but departed last year.
The Ocean recently headlined Pelagic Fest in Maastricht, Netherlands. Metal Hammer attended the event and interviewed Staps, who explained why he was so fascinated with the sea to the point of naming his band after it.
“I was out swimming off the coast of Spain with my dad and I swam into a school of jellyfish,” he remembered, saying he was “eight or nine” at the time. “I started panicking and hyperventilating, and I eventually ended up underwater. My dad pulled me up and dragged me out. I had stings all over my body.”
Staps continued: “It’s what [German philosopher Immanuel] Kant described as ‘the sublime’: a fascination with the beauty of nature while being terrified by what it can do to you. It’s like watching a thunderstorm. It’s beautiful, but it’s also scary. It can hurt you.”
The Ocean End Of An Eon 2024/2025 tour dates:
Dec 04: Helsinki On The Rocks, Finland
Dec 06: Stockholm Slaktkyrkan, Sweden
Dec 08: Oslo Vulkan Arena, Norway
Dec 14: Bucharest Quantic, Romania
Jan 11: Berlin Kesselhaus, Germany
Jan 16: Ghent Vooruit, Belgium
Feb 02: Madrid Mon, Spain
