German metallers THE OCEAN have issued the following update:

"We still can't believe it... but after some extremely busy weeks in the studio and on the road, we finally shipped out the hard-drives with our recordings this morning to NYC and Helsinki, where they will be mixed by Jonas Olsson and Andrew Schneider (UNSANE, PELICAN, CAVE IN, MADE OUT OF BABIES). Both albums will be mastered on August 28th and 29th by Nick Zampiello at New Alliance East Mastering.

After almost six months of daily work on this immense project, comprising more than 83 minutes of music dispersed over two very distinct and different discs that see us exploring entirely new musical territories while frequently employing well-tried oceanic elements, we are more satisfied than ever before with the final result. This is certainly our musically most advanced and most versatile album to date, including songs of truly epic proportions, with huge orchestrations, subtle electronic textures and immense harmonic density and dynamic width.

On the vocal front, we have finally found someone to follow in Meta's footsteps. His name is Mike Pilat, and he will move from the UK to Berlin soon to join the band full-time as bass player and main vocalist, together with Nico. His characteristic voice and incredible range of vocal styles are one aspect that really distinguishes this upcoming double-album. Mike's stunning vocal qualities can already be witnessed live on stage during our current tour with THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER.

Apart from that, we're happy to welcome some old and new guests on the album, including Caleb Scofield (Cave In, ZOZOBRA, OLD MAN GLOOM), Nate Newton (CONVERGE, DOOMRIDERS), Dwid Hellion (INTEGRITY), Tomas Hallbom (BREACH), Eric Kalsbeek (TEXTURES) and musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Our upcoming double-album will be entitled Precambrian and its concept and album artwork evolve around the early days of this planet, when mother earth was a hostile and uninhabitable place devoid of life and reigned by fire, sulfur and streams of red-glowing lava... The artwork will be done by Martin Kvamme again, we have already seen some stunning rough drafts.

Precambrian is composed of a mini-CD with 22 minutes playing time entitled Hadean/Archaean, and a full-length CD with 61 minutes playing time, entitled Proterozoic, both referring to successive geological eras. The song titles are as follows:

Disc A: Hadean/Archaean - I. Hadean - 'Hadean'. II. Archean - 'Eoarchaean', 'Paleoarchaean', 'Mesoarchaean', 'Neoarchaean'.

Disc B: Proterozoic - III. Palaeoproterozoic - 'Siderian', 'Rhyacian', 'Orosirian', 'Statherian'. IV. Mesoproterozoic - 'Calymmian', 'Ectasian', 'Stenian'. V. Neoproterozoic - 'Tonian', 'Cryogenian'.

We will be embarking on an all-over Europe headlining tour all of November to promote the album, supported by INTRONAUT and MOUTH OF THE ARCHITECT."

Dates confirmed (with more to be announced) currently include

November

2 - Padova, Italy - Pedro
3 - Oberentfelden, Switzerland - Borömpömpöm
5 - Lasko, Slovenia - SMOCL Lasko
6 - Wien, Austria - Arena
7 - Leipzig, Germany - Conne Island
16 - Bordeaux, France - L'Heretic
17 - Bulle, Switzerland - L'Ebullition
18 - Würzburg, Germany - Soundpark Ost
20 - London, England - Underworld
24 - Den Bosch, Holland - W2
25 - Rotterdam, Holland - Waterfront
26 - Hamburg, Germany - Hafenklang im Exil
29 - Copenhagen, Denmark Stengade 30

December

1 - München, Germany - Feierwerk
"We will release further details on the album concept and artwork and a definite release date very soon, so stay tuned. Time to get drunk now..."