Killstar: vocals
Tripster: guitar
7even II: guitar
Plasmaar: keyboards
Atomica: bass
Martex: drums
The history of Finland's And Oceans began in 1989 when Neptune, K-2T4-S and some other friends started their first band influenced by German thrash bands. They split up and each later played in several underground acts, the most noteworthy being Festerday that was a pure death metal band that recorded a couple of demos and performed several gigs. Things developed slowly within the band until 1995 when de Monde, Neptune & K-2T4-S formed And Oceans. In 1996, And Oceans experienced a line-up change resulting in Mr.Oos joining the band and Anzhaar and Grief gave a hand from Black Dawn. Now the band had the freedom to carry out the music they always wanted to play. Soon they entered the studio and recorded their first official demo, Mare Liberum, in 1997 which was released through Swedish label Defender Productions. Labels began to show interest in the band and And Oceans signed with the French label Season Of Mist for two albums. In October 1997 they entered Finland's infamous Tico-Tico studio (Impaled Nazarene, Sentenced, Thy Serpentto record their debut full-length The Dynamic Gallery Of Thoughts. Interestingly, the album was written in four different languages (Finnish, Swedish, English and French) and featured artwork by Alf Svensson (former At The Gates member). The album received positive responses worldwide and was hailed as one of the strongest melodic black metal debuts ever with And Oceans bringing something new to the black metal scene mixing extremely fast, aggressive parts with ravashing melodies in a way that was heard never before. After the debut album, they received several new record deal offers but they decided to stick with Season Of Mist. They entered Tico-Tico again to record the first WAR album titled And Oceans vs. Bloodthorn WAR Volume 1 (which features each band contributing two new songs, a cross-redition of the other band and a GGFH cover). After the recording session Mr. Oos was replaced by Gaunt (from Finnish grindcore enthusiasts Rotten Sound) for various reasons. In November of 1998 they entered the Tico-Tico to record their sophomore effort, The Symmetry Of I, The Circle Of O. The band emerged from the studio with a stronger, more mature black metal sound that reminded many of Dimmu Borgir at the time. However, And Oceans' unique use of keyboards and aggression led them to an all-time high amongst the scene, garnering positive responses from fans and critics alike. The year is now 2001 and many things have changed for the band. For starters, And Oceans signed to Century Media Records during mid-2000 for a worldwide push of their latest work of art, simply titled Allotropic/Metamorphic Genesis Of Dimorphism. Recorded at the now famous Abyss Studio (Destruction, Dimmu Borgir, Children Of Bodom, Hypocrisy, etc), the group pieced together an album chock full of profound ideas that is bound to turn many heads. The new material takes the group's previous musical and lyrical extremes another step further by adding new twists to the realm of traditional dark, blackened metal that will surely pleasantly surprise many of the band's fans and critics. Expect aggressive, blasting black metal with shrieking vocals, unforgettable songs and futuristic keyboards. With song titles such as "Intelligence Is Sexy", "White Synthetic Noise", "Tears Have No Name", "Esprit De Corps", "Odious & Devious", "Of Devillish Tongues", "Postfuturistika", "TBA In A Silver Box" and "New Model World", you know you'll be in for a unique listening experience. Adding more to the package, Dark Tranquillity guitarist Niklas Sundin creates the album's stunning artwork showing why he is one of the genre's leading artists. And Oceans are ready to step into the spotlight once again and just one listen to Allotropic/Metamorphic Genesis Of Dimorphism is all that's needed to cement And Oceans into the minds of metal aficionados for years to come.
Offical Websitehttp://www.blackmetal.com/~mega/AO/
- July 9, 2001
Blackwinged
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