Any time a press release concerning The Ocean arrives at the MetalSucks Mansion work immediately stops and masturbation commences. Today’s mind-pornography comes from the band’s U.S. label Metal Blade, giving us plenty of new information about what the TWO forthcoming 2010 Ocean albums, Heliocentric and Anthropocentric, will contain:

The concept at the base of both albums is a critique of Christianity from different philosophical and personal angles.

While the songs, art and lyrics of Heliocentric tell the story of the rise of the heliocentric world view and its effects on Christian belief from medieval times to Darwin and Dawkins, “Anthropocentric” challenges the views of creationists and other modern fundamentalists who still believe that the earth is at the center of the universe.

The tracklisting of Heliocentric is as follows:

1. Shamayim
2. Firmament
3. The First Commandment of the Luminaries
4. Ptolemy Was Wrong
5. Metaphysics of the Hangman
6. Catharsis of a Heretic
7. Swallowed by the Earth
8. Epiphany
9. The Origin of Species
10. The Origin of God

Heliocentric” continues where the Proterozoic half of the Precambrian album left off, with dense, epic songs and big orchestrations. Anthropocentric is going to be a bit more straight forward rocking and technical, whilst tapping the full dynamic range from acoustic pieces to eclectic heaviness as well.

It should go without saying that I’m really excited for this album, but judging from the comments on the few Ocean posts we’ve written over the past couple of weeks you all are just as stoked. I feel like 2010 is finally going to be the year The Ocean break in the United States. People have been quick to accuse Metal Blade of not pushing the band enough over here when in fact every single Metal Blade employee I’ve spoken to about The Ocean loves this band to death. The fact of the matter is that promoting a band who isn’t able to tour here is really, really difficult; between flights, a vehicle, gas, gear rental, visas, merch and everything else that goes into getting a European band to our shores, you’re looking at at least $10,000 for a month-long tour, probably even more. And when you’ve got a band whose music is way too heady and cerebral to appeal to the mainstream metal masses it just doesn’t add it up.

But I feel like people are finally getting hip to this band. Perhaps if we can show the band and their label that there really is enough interest this time around we can get them back another U.S. tour. Let’s hope.

In case you missed it, last week The Ocean unveiled a new website that has clips of all of the songs on Heliocentric. Check that shit out!

-VN