There’s no better way to convince you guys that the hype we’re giving any given album is worthwhile than to stream the whole fucking thing and let you decide for yourselves. So we hooked up a sweet deal with The Ocean and Metal Blade Records to give you guys Heliocentric in its entirety for 48 hours only. Starting right now and lasting through 11:59pm EDT on Friday, April 9th you can listen to Heliocentric in all of its proggy, ambitious glory right here on MetalSucks. I dare you to not be impressed by the scope and execution of this album!

Of course, whether you decide to buy it based on what you’re hearing is entirely up to you. But The Ocean have put together some exceedingly cool packages for those who decide they’d like to support the band:

• Heliocentric is now available for pre-order in the U.S. as just the CD ($11.99) or in a CD/t-shirt package ($20.99). The packaging features a black digipak with silver foil and black embossed designs as well as tarot cards in place of the traditional CD booklet. There are a total of 9 tarot cards (one for each song), each with its own artwork on one side and lyrics on the other.
• Europeans will be able to purchase the digipak without the silver hot foil-stamping but with another nifty artwork idea instead that reflects the Heliocentric-theme, the idea that the sun, rather than the earth, is at the center of our planetary system. This version has 3 revolving PVC-dials in different sizes attached to the front side with a screw: the center dial depicts the sun. The second dial shows the orbits of the planet, the outer dial shows the zodiacs. The dials are transparent, so you can see through them the background of a starry night sky on which a star-chart is printed in a special color varnish. We’re not sure where the European version will be available other than in stores.
• A super-limited edition 4xLP box set. This strictly limited box is designed to hold 2 gatefold covers and 4x 180g colored vinyl records: the Heliocentric album and the Anthropocentric album (October 2010). For now, the box is only being delivered with the Heliocentric album included; the Anthropocentric album can be purchased separately in October, to be put into the box. The box and gatefolds include all of the silver foil-stamped and PVC wheel goodness outlined above. More details about this set, photos and pre-order information can be found here.

As for the music itself…. here you go:

[this promotion has ended]

After the jump, check out a video from chief songwriter / guitarist Robin Staps explaining the opening tracj “Firmanent”: