A review of this kind can almost be written on its own. When two respected bands that have won their own merit there’s not much to add. Of course everything is ultimately limited to one’s cup of tea but the blood & sweat invested by these people are not being judged here.

The Ocean contributes with a 13-minutes track (there’s more information below). Robin Staps deserves everyone’s respect and that’s undeniable. When a band releases an album like “Precambrian” there’s not much you can argue against, right? I consider myself a follower of The Ocean and I’ve certainly acquired quite some knowledge about these people. What they deliver has a noticeable aim in terms of conceptualization. And here I address to the lyrics, to the artwork, to their live shows, to the way they synchronize their songs with the lights on stage using a sequencer (understand why the drummer is always wearing headphones?), etc. These people have released a fucking DVD with their latest full-length LP, so who am I to say whatever here? I’m just doing justice to the facts really! You should listen to their new track if you have any respect regarding what these people have been providing over these years.

About Mono, I don’t know so much about them. I’ve seen them live, I felt something but it wasn’t that strong in my humble opinion. What I’ve said about The Ocean could be said about Mono but I’m not entitled to fake emotions here.

It seems that The Ocean are now touring with Dalai, the cello player. Also, they’re playing “Untimely Meditations”!

Please read the following information. As I’ve stated, everything speaks for itself.

THE OCEAN’s contribution, a 13 minutes song entitled The Quiet Observer, was inspired by Gaspard Noe’s controversial movie Enter The Void. The movie tells the story of a drug dealer getting shot in a Tokyo toilet while tripping on DMT, and entering what is referred to as the „intermediate state“ according to the Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan Book Of The Dead: the book, which has been a source of inspiration for many writers, artists and musicians from John Lennon to Aldous Huxley, describes a state immediately after a person’s death, when the intellect of the dead person must face its own illusions, in the form of peaceful and wrathful deities, in a protracted psychedelic experience. Only if it manages to expose these horrifying guises as products of its own imagination, can it escape the eternal cycle of rebirth. Noe leaves it open as to whether protagonist Oscar’s death and the following metaphysical experience are actually happening – or whether he is simply tripping…

MONO address similar topics with their contribution, an 11-minutes song entitled Death in Reverse. The song serves as a trailer for the upcoming 9th MONO album, which is scheduled for an early 2016 release through Pelagic Records. Guitarist and main song writer Takaakira Goto comments: „The theme of this track is life and death and regeneration. Even when our bodies decay and decompose, our souls will prevail unchanged. Our bodies will act as seeds for the next generation, while our souls will journey together into our new eternal life. This is the story we want to explore with our next album, a portrayal of our journey through life towards death; from living out our lives proud and high, to bodies immolating, infused with precious memories… and through the vast, noisy tunnel of space, we become pure souls – a single drop of water in the fountain of life.“