Acclaimed post-metal band THE OCEAN return to Australia this June for their first headline tour in almost a decade. And in addition to their previously announced down under shows, THE OCEAN are pleased to announce today a very special second headline show in Melbourne, with the band set to perform their groundbreaking 2013 album Pelagial in its entirety on Saturday 15 June, joined by Pelagic Records label mates LLNN, LO! and SPOOK THE HORSES.
In 2013 THE OCEAN released a record that would change the game. Pelagial took their progressive post-metal to all new depths, truly establishing the German collective as a unique and pioneering force in heavily conceptual heavy music. Similarly themed, THE OCEAN have themselves curated their own record label since 2009 in the form of Pelagic Records, carefully building it into one of the world’s leading sources of post-rock and post-metal over the course of 230 releases. In celebration of the label’s 15th anniversary, 2024 will see the band perform their seminal album Pelagic in full at a limited series of Pelagic Records showcase events around the world, with Melbourne getting the full experience first on June 15 at The Corner Hotel. Rounding out this special evening will be the apocalyptic sounds of Danish group LLNN, the scathing fire of Sydney’s LO!, and the introspective desolation of New Zealand’s SPOOK THE HORSES.
THE OCEAN stunned audiences across the nation on their 2023 Australian tour with Ne Obliviscaris and Rivers of Nihil, but couldn’t wait to follow up and cement their glory with their biggest Australian production yet and a tour package of their own featuring the legendary US metal/hardcore pioneers CAVE IN for their first-ever Australian shows, and insanely heavy Danish label mates LLNN.
2023 also saw the release of the band’s ninth album Holocene – the heavily conceptual collective’s most exploratory and varied release yet – and the conclusion of the paleontological era they began with 2018’s Phanerozoic I: Paleozoic and continued with 2020’s Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic. Having flirted more with extreme metal influences on these records than ever before, the arrival of Holocene saw the band – lead by guitarist and mastermind Robin Staps – forge a new path into a world of looped electronics and more subtle melodic experimentation while philosophically reflecting on humanity as always, this time on the nascent realities of a post-pandemic world.
Adding to proceedings at THE OCEAN’s second Melbourne headline sideshow with some unsubtle bludgeoning, Denmark’s LLNN will ignite stages with their sound. Sounding like the apocalypse on steroids, and signed to THE OCEAN’s own Pelagic Records, this absolutely crushing four piece unleash vicious sonic textures atop of a percussive barrage of unhinged rhythmic destruction. Three albums deep, 2021’s Unmaker is a pillar of sonic force so insanely heavy that words fall short.
Also joining THE OCEAN’s second Melbourne show are Australian blackened sludge metal purveyors LO!. In 2023, LO! returned with another grand infernal vision, flexing riffs and gargantuan grooves on their third studio album The Gleaners. Following on from the universal acclaim garnered by their 2017 album Vestigial, The Gleaners forged the band’s visceral craftsmanship, cemented with a 2023 national album launch tour and a support alongside Be’lakor that shook audiences to their cores.
Hailing from Wellington in New Zealand, SPOOK THE HORSES will also appear at THE OCEAN’s second Melbourne show. Wielding heavy post rock that is simultaneously raw, desperate and unsettling, SPOOK THE HORSES’ might can be witnessed across their entire catalogue, most recently via their 2020 album Empty Body. Emotive and mercurial, SPOOK THE HORSES have previously also appeared onstage at ArcTanGent alongside Swans, HEALTH and Russian Circles.
Tickets for THE OCEAN’s headline Australian tour alongside CAVE IN and LLNN are on-sale now, along with the band’s second special Melbourne headline show celebrating Pelagial in full.
THE OCEAN
AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2024
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS CAVE IN (USA), LLNN (DK)
WEDNESDAY 5 JUNE 2024 – THE TRIFFID, BRISBANE
THURSDAY 6 JUNE 2024 – HAMILTON STATION HOTEL, NEWCASTLE
FRIDAY 7 JUNE 2024 – THE BASEMENT, CANBERRA
SATURDAY 8 JUNE 2024 – THE FACTORY THEATRE, SYDNEY
SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2024 – THE ROSEMOUNT, PERTH *
FRIDAY 14 JUNE 2024 – 170 RUSSELL, MELBOURNE
SATURDAY 15 JUNE 2024 – THE CORNER HOTEL, MELBOURNE #
SUNDAY 16 JUNE 2024 – LION ARTS, ADELAIDE
* No Cave In or LLNN
# With LLNN, LO! and SPOOK THE HORSES