We talked to …And Oceans!

We had the pleasure to speak with Timo and Mathias of the finish combo …And Oceans, which blew our mind with their latest Album Cosmic World Mother! Especially the lyrics had been of my interest since the paradigm of the last album especially is very different and refreshing in the extreme metal scene.

Check out their projects at Bandcamp and support the stuff you love! Especially great news that they are already about to enter the Studio again in two month!

But now lets jump in….

1. You exist since 1995 already! Can you tell us a little about the bands history? You had a 18 year gap between two full length albums….

Timo: Yes, we started around that time. A few members of Festerday and a new drummer Janne. Who actually was with us for a year when we came back late 2017. Our beginning went quite fast. I mean, we did a couple of demos and two tracks for this one comp CD with which we got the deal from Season of Mist. Back in the day it seemed that black metal was really appreciated. At least record contracts were not as difficult to get as they seem to be today. Today the basic deal can be such that the artist pays almost everything, but let’s not go there now, haha. Well, we don’t have such a deal though, haha. Season of Mist back in the day was really professional from the beginning. They supported us in every possible way including touring etc. We did two albums and one split with Norwegian Bloodthorn through them. Then we got a deal from Century Media. Through them we also released two albums, touring etc. Then in 2005 it was over. Maybe because there were so many other things going on in our lives. We thought of coming back a few times over the years, but nothing happened until 2017. We had one rehearsal with me, Teemu, Kena and Janne. It felt really great and we went from there. We did a short video clip and put it on our facebook page. Not before long there were pieces of news about that. Soon we got offers for gigs etc. for later 2018. They went so well, so latest then we started thinking of making new music. Which wasn’t that clear from the beginning. We had our doubts about making new music, but luckily we took that path. Now we have a great new album out and in a couple of months we start making a new album again.

2. Your lyrics seem to aim to discover quite profound questions of life and existence. Can you tell us a bit about your inspiration regarding the lyrics in general?

Mathias: The lyrics in …and Oceans have always been important, even if they can be a bit diffuse and shrouded in mist. When I write I usually write about things going on in my head. Sometimes they are about my own experiences, but in this band it’s more about my interpretations of the mechanics behind life and existence, as you said.

3. Can you tell us a bit about the background of the song “The dissolution of mind and matter”?

Mathias: That song is sort of explaining or summarizing what the whole album is about. The dissolution is a breaking point of sorts, when mind and flesh depart (Limbonic Art pun intended!). The two go their separate ways to join the eternal cycle of cosmic energy. Your body goes in the ground, in one way or another, and gets turned into energy for new life to use and the mind gets absorbed into other forms of energy that nobody ever might prove what actually is. On this album I’m digging deeper into these two different processes and what they mean to us.

4. I heard your last Album “Cosmic world mother” was recorded in four different locations? How was that? Was it difficult to manage?

Timo: That was more practical to do since we live in different cities. Though there can be challenges to handle this, but all studio engineers are professionals so there were no worries about not managing this.

Mathias: It was a bit of a puzzle, but the situation we were in definitely demanded something like this. I think that the end result speaks for itself and was worth all that hassle. I was there as a middle man in all this and fit the pieces together and made sure that the result was what we wanted. I’m a sound engineer myself and have a hard time letting things like this go, especially when they are my own bands!

“The dissolution is a breaking point of sorts, when mind and flesh depart (Limbonic Art pun intended!). The two go their separate ways to join the eternal cycle of cosmic energy.“

5. We hopefully get out of the pandemic now slowly. Do you have planned any live gigs in the near future?

Timo: We have had a lot of plans for club gigs, tours etc. Only a few of them we have managed to play here in Finland. Others are postponed or canceled. Also most of the gigs in Finland have been postponed several times. We have some great things coming next year, but can’t talk about them yet.

6. How is your songwriting process usually? Do you all write the songs together?

Timo: No, we don’t and can’t do songs like that since we live in four different cities. We don’t rehearse that often because of that. So it is normal that the guitarists make new riffs and we start from there or our keyboard player makes something with keyboards and we add guitars to that. We record different parts/riffs and then we try to cut and paste them to a preliminary song structure. We often use ready-made drum patterns for this. After we have some kind of song ready with guitars, all the others follow. Vocals, bass etc. Final touch normally is that our drummer records his own drums and then minor structure changes can still happen.

7. Do you write currently new material?

Timo: Like mentioned we are already entering the studio in two months.

8. Your last Album was a concept Album if I understand that correctly. Do you plan on continuing with concept albums and pick a subject for each album?

Mathias: All …and Oceans albums so far have been concept albums and will be so in the future for sure! I’m very happy with this since 90% of the albums I’ve released in my life have been conceptual. The new album will be a continuation of the last album, it will flow around the subject of “all energy is eternal”, but I will approach the concept from other quite intriguing angles! Don’t want to spoil too much here.

9. How is the metal scene in Finland right now? Personally, I see so much great metal coming out of the country I am just speechless….

Timo: Seems to pop up new bands all the time and some of them are great. Maybe it is a good thing that younger guys are finding their way to play real instruments, haha. 

10. Do you personally have any new band discoveries you would recommend? 

Timo: From BM great bands like Havukruunu, Chamber of Unlight, Antimateria etc. DM Galvanizer, Gorephilia etc.

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