Personnel: Mike Pilat (vocals, bass guitar); Caleb Scofield, Nico Webers, Jason Emry, Jan Oberg, Eric Kalsbeek, Eric Kalsbeek, Dwid Hellion, Meta, Rene, Nate Newton (vocals); Matt Beels (guitar, guitars); Andreas Hillebrand, Walid Farruque (guitar); Robin Staps (guitars, percussion); Christoph Von Der Nahmer (violin); Karina Suslov (viola); Stefan Heinemeyer (cello); John Grtler (saxophone); Katharina Sellheim (piano); Daniel Eichholz, Daniel Eichholz (glockenspiel); Gordon Hnies, Hannes Huefken, Jonathan Heine (bass guitar); Torge Liessmann (drums, percussion); Jonas Olsson (tambourine); Gerd Kornmann (percussion); Tomas Svenson (sampler).
Audio Mixer: Andrew Schneider.
Recording information: Audio Zoo, Berlin, Germany (03/2007-07/2007); Bart's House, The Netherlands (03/2007-07/2007); Dios Mio Studios, Los Angeles, CA (03/2007-07/2007); Oceanland, Berlin, Germany (03/2007-07/2007); Sasquatch Studios, Seattle, WA (03/2007-07/2007); Studio 57, Alateveli, Finland (03/2007-07/2007); Studio Kronan, Luleaa, Sweden (03/2007-07/2007).
Fitting for a band with such an elemental name, the Ocean specializes in protean, rough-hewn metal that's epic in scope and execution. PRECAMBRIAN is a double album based on one of the Earth's earliest geological periods, with successive movements of the record named for different sub-periods. It's brainy stuff, but the music destroys any notion of academic pretense. With massive slabs of guitar shifting; complex, adventurous drumming, and harsh, pre-historic-sounding vocals, PRECAMBRIAN is the sound of hammer-wielding demons shaping the planet's still-cooling surface. It's complex, beautiful, blazing, and unsparingly heavy.
Professional Reviews
CMJ - "The most thrilling moments are on Disc Two, like the delicately dirgy 'Ecstasian,' which manages to fluctuate in its texture, instrumentation and tempo at several turns..."
