Leave it to the Germans, in this instance Berlin’s THE OCEAN, to keep the eerie darkness but add a layer of labyrinthian musical complexity to their tribute in the shape of the NIN track ‘Even Deeper‘. Their fascinating homage is the third single from the companion album “Best of Nine Inch Nails Redux” that will be released parallel to the forthcoming MER Redux Series installment “The Downward Spiral Redux”.
THE OCEAN comment on ‘Even Deeper’: “When Nine Inch Nails released the double-album ”The Fragile’ in 1999, it was an eye-opening record for Loïc and me in many ways“, guitarist Robin Staps writes, mentioning their former vocalist Loïc Rossetti with whom the band recorded this tribute: “The sheer scope of this album, the production marrying fat electronics with broken, organic, and acoustic elements that are intentionally slightly out of tune – no one else had done it like that before. Initially, we wanted to cover ‘The Great Below’, but someone had already picked that track, which made ‘Even Deeper’ our second choice. In hindsight, we were lucky with that. It is the perfect track for us and I like to think that we managed to make it ours, while honouring the original. Special thanks go out to Simen from Spurv and Orestis from Playgrounded for contributing trombone and synths. This is also a farewell, big thank you, and send-off to Loïc, as it was the final track that we recorded with him on vocals!“
THE OCEAN, also known as THE OCEAN COLLECTIVE, are a fascinating musical beast. Partly for lack of a more suitable and also commonly understood category, the band is often labelled as post-metal yet also contains progressive elements, classical instrumentation, and sludge among many other stylistic influences. Whatever label is attached to them, they have always remained as a unique yet recognisable musical entity despite cycling through many phases and experiments. THE OCEAN came into existence when composer and guitarist Robin Staps moved to Berlin at the end of the year 2000. Gathering a first line-up, the band moved into the cellar of an old aluminium factory from the second world war. The resulting rehearsal, studio, and living space was named Oceanland and all their albums until 2007 were recorded there. Robin Staps has remained at the core of THE OCEAN as the band has experienced a continuous change of line-up with a plethora of amazing musicians contributing to or leaving their personal mark on the band either as members or guests. As expected, this has lead to a richly diverse discography of which, among many other releases, the acclaimed tenth full-length “Holocene” (2023) is their latest.
Tracklist “Best of Nine Inch Nails Redux”
1. SNAKEMOTHER ‘The Day the World Went Away / Sin’
2. BLUE HERON ‘Head Like a Hole’
3. GRAYCON ‘Right Where It Belongs’
4. THE OCEAN ‘Even Deeper’
5. EVI VINE ‘This Isn’t the Place’
6. NONEXISTENT NIGHT ‘The Perfect Drug’
7. THE MOTH GATHERER ‘The Hand That Feeds’
8. CHROME GHOST ‘Every Day Is Exactly the Same’
9. MARISSA NADLER ‘The Great Below’
10. BEES MADE HONEY IN THE VEIN TREE ‘Over & Out’
11. THOU ‘Suck’
12. ORBITER ‘Terrible Lie’
13. BLEAKHEART ‘Something I Could Never Have’
