The Ocean

Originally known as the Ocean Collective, before shortening their name to simply the Ocean, this forward-thinking ensemble from Berlin, Germany, was founded in early 2000 by guitarist Robin Staps, who soon surrounded himself with fellow guitarist Andreas Hillebrand, bassist Jonathan Heine, drummer Torge Liessmann, percussionist Gerd Kornmann, and a variety of individually specialized vocalists, including Nico Webers, Sean Ingram, Nate Newton, Thomas Hallbom, and Carsten Albrecht. Inspired in part by the progressive explorations of Americans Neurosis, and wishing to compose brutal heavy metal containing lighter, atmospheric elements under strictly orchestrated parameters, the group's demos, EPs, and two albums (2004's Fluxion and 2006's Aeolian — which were recorded at the same session) have been described as "ambient doom soundtracks." The hard-hitting, prog-tinged Precambrian arrived in 2007. For 2010's Heliocentric, vocalist Loïc Rosetti (who actually sings rather than growls) replaced Albrecht and helped to shift the band's focus toward a more spacious approach with larger textural and dynamic shifts.