The Ocean Kill It on the Summer Slaughter Tour

The Ocean are currently making their way through North America as part of the seventh annual Summer Slaughter Tour. Presented by Indie Merch Store, ESP and Guitar World, the progressive sound contortionists are leveling stages nightly alongside the likes of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Animals As Leaders, Periphery, Norma Jean, Cattle Decapitation, Revocation, Aeon and more.

The Ocean onstage at Summer Slaughter, photo courtesy of facebook.com/theoceancollective

Founding guitarist Robin Staps shared, “Summer Slaughter has been a blast so far… we struggled with some technical issues in the beginning and, and finding a setup/routine that works within those 10 minutes changeovers wasn’t easy, but we’re there now, and have been thoroughly enjoying the past few shows. More good stuff to come!”  Flashwounds caught the tour last weekend at The Palladium in Worcester, MA ~ and Robin, you guys delivered not just “good stuff,” but great stuff…In fact, The Ocean gets our vote for outstanding set of the 10 hour show (and after they left the stage, we headed straight to their merch table to pick up their entire discography, which we’ve been listening to non-stop).  Stay tuned for more of Flashwounds’ coverage of Summer Slaughter, including photos of The Ocean whipping the crowd into a frenzy.

We’re certainly not the only ones who now consider ourselves fans of The Ocean and their body of work, especially the new album:

“…ambitious and adventurous…” ~ Terrorizer

“The sixth album from German post-metal doombringers The Ocean is huge… In the course of the record, tender piano interludes get stomped on by Mastodon-shaped footprints, lush strings work next to bulldozing double-kick work, and, at the end, the submarine crashes at Melvins tempos.” ~ Spin

 “…a hallmark album for a gifted team of artisans…Pelagial is one of the most invested albums The Ocean has yet conceived. Prepare to be not only submerged but actually touched by this album.” ~ Blabbermouth

“Pelagial is brilliantly written, expertly executed and filled with the kind of songwriting most bands can only dream of.” ~ Crave Online

“Pelagial resonates so deeply because its sonic continuity is matched with shifting, unified composition. The album viscerally depicts the spectrum of submersion while highlighting the musicians’ versatility and cohesion. The band has never written more intriguing music, and The Ocean Collective has never been a more apt name.” ~ MetalSucks

“…a journey within itself…” ~ Metal Insider

“…destined to be one of the year’s best releases.” ~ Echoes and Dust

“Creating music with a real meaning cannot be taken as a hobby. Either you put everything into it and make your message known or you don’t. Their correlation between diving deeper into the ocean and diving into the inner workings of the human mind is astounding…you would be a complete fool to not pick up this true work of art.” ~ New Noise Magazine

The Ocean have added a number of last minute US headlining shows on the Summer Slaughter off days, including performances in Hartford, Omaha and Vancouver as well as a very special meet & greet on August 6 in Brooklyn, New York at Saint Vitus Bar.

Staps elaborated: “On August 6th, we will all be hanging out at Saint Vitus bar in Brooklyn, where we played a great show in 2011 with support from Pelagic Records recording artists Family, and The Binary Code, as some of you may remember. We are stoked to see these two awesome bands perform at Saint Vitus Bar again, as well as Black Table. Rumors have it that there is this band called “Pelagial” playing as well, we’re very curious to find out what that is all about… we will all be there to sign whatever stuff you bring, preferably foreheads, melons or live animals, so come say hi if you’re from the NYC area!”

Following the band’s stateside takeover, The Ocean will play select shows throughout Taiwan, China and Russia before embarking upon a full European headlining tour set to launch on October 29, 2013. Support will come from Norway’s Shining, Poland’s Tides from Nebula, and France’s Hacride. See all confirmed dates below.

You can watch “Bathyalpelagic II: The Wish in Dreams” here.

The Ocean on The Summer Slaughter Tour [remaining dates]:

08/05/201 Webster Underground ~ Hartfort, CT ***

8/06/2013 Saint Vitus Bar ~ Brooklyn, NY – SPECIAL MEET & GREET!
8/07/2013 Best Buy Theater ~ New York, NY
8/08/2013 Sound Academy ~ Toronto, ON
8/09/2013 Metropolis ~ Montreal, QC
8/10/2013 Upstate Concert Hall ~ Clifton Park, NY
8/11/2013 The Majestic Theatre ~ Detroit, MI
8/12/2013 House of Blues ~ Chicago, IL
8/13/2013 The Rave ~ Milwaukee, WI
8/14/2013 The Cabooze ~ Minneapolis, MN
8/15/2013 Club Antares ~ Omaha, NE ***
8/16/2013 Ogden Theatre ~ Denver, CO
8/17/2013 The Complex ~ Salt Lake City, UT
8/19/2013 Snowbox Sodo ~ Seattle, WA
8/20/2013 Roseland Ballroom ~ Portland, OR
8/21/2013 Biltmore Cabaret ~ Vancouver, BC ***

***The Ocean headlining shows

The Ocean

8/24/2013 Circo Volador ~ Mexico City, MX
9/01/2013 The Wall ~ Taipeh, TWN
9/04/2013 Hidden Agenda ~ Hong Kong, CHN
9/05/2013 B10 ~ Shenzhen, CHN
9/06/2013 SD ~ Guangzhou, CHN
9/07/2013 Vox ~ Wuhan, CHN
9/08/2013 46 House ~ Changsha, CHN
9/11/2013 Yuylntang ~ Shanghai, CHN
9/12/2013 Nuts ~ Chongqing, CHN
9/13/2013 Little Bar ~ Chengdu, CHN
9/14/2013 Mao ~ Beijing CHN
9/15/2013 13 Club ~ Tianjin, CHN
9/19/2013 Megapolis ~ Irkutsk, RUS
9/21/2013 Era ~ Krasnoyarsk, RUS
9/22/2013 Mayak ~ Tomsk, RUS
9/23/2013 Rock City ~ Novosibirsk, RUS
9/25/2013 Plan-K.Tone ~ Tyumen, RUS
9/26/2013 Nirvana ~ Yekaterinburg, RUS
9/28/2013 Plan B ~ Moscow, RUS
9/29/2013 Arktika ~ Saint-Petersburg, RUS

The Ocean Festival Performances:

10/03/2013 FZQ Freiseitzentrum West @ WestEnd Festival ~ Dortmund, Germany
10/06/2013 JC Sjiwa @ Progpower Europe ~ Baarlo, Netherlends
10/13/2013 Essigfabrik @ Euroblast Festival ~ Cologne, Germany

The Ocean w/ Shining, Tide from Nebula, Hacride 

10/29/2013 Logo ~ Hamburg, Germany
10/30/2013 Patronaat ~ Haarlem, Netherlands
10/31/2013 Baroeg ~ Rotterdam, Netherlands
11/01/2013 The Garage ~ London, United Kingdom
11/03/2013 Divan du Monde ~ Paris, France
11/05/2013 Apolo 2 ~ Barcelona, Spain
11/06/2013 Caracol ~ Madrid, Spain
11/07/2013 Hard Club ~ Porto, Portugal
11/09/2013 AudioDrome ~ Turin, Italy
11/10/2013 Traffic ~ Rome, Italy
11/11/2013 Gala Hala ~ Ljubljana, Slovenia
11/12/2013 Backstage Club ~ Munich, Germany
11/13/2013 Salzhaus ~ Winterthur, Switzerland
11/14/2013 La Poudriere ~ Belfort, France
11/15/2013 Zeche Carl ~ Essen, Germany
11/17/2013 Lido ~ Berlin, Germany
11/18/2013 Proxima ~ Warsaw, Poland
11/19/2013 Alibi ~ Wroclaw, Poland

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