It’s been a rough couple of weeks for German progressive metal band The Ocean, having had both their vocalist Loïc Rossetti and guitarist David Ramis Åhfeldt suddenly quit the group. It’s the kind of shakeup within a band that sets everything back a while, as the remaining members try to figure out what to do next. Yet in a statement posted to the band’s social media pages, it sounds like they’re going to forge ahead and even release a new album in 2026.
In both Rossetti and Åhfeldt’s departures, both released a statement that effectively said “it’s not you, it’s me,” expressing that creative differences and a lack of happiness with being in the band made them decide to walk away. Let’s also not forget that drummer Paul Seidel left the band earlier this year.
Despite all that, The Ocean (also known as The Ocean Collective) said they were “far from dead” in the following statement:
“The end of an eon…
…and the beginning of a new“We’ve announced last summer that the ,,End of An Eon” shows would be the last with the current lineup. We decided to add Hellfest +2 more as a transitional shows, the first ones with our new drummer Jordi Farré.
“Needless to say, 2024 was a tumultuous year. While playing the best shows of our career, we had reached a dead end.
“Loïc has been in the band since 2009, Paul since 2014, Mattias since 2015, David since 2017, Robin since the beginning in 2001.
“Touring takes a heavy toll on body & mind. It can be the best thing in life, but it can also be draining. It’s a huge commitment. We have played over 120 shows per year since the end of the pandemic, and counting studio time & travel days, that’s far more than half of our lives.
“From that angle, the fact we’ve been able to do this together, with a firm group of committed people for more or less a decade against the odds of life, is pretty incredible.
“To celebrate this recent incarnation of The Ocean Collective’s lineup, we have an Audiotree session for you that we recorded last summer in Chicago.
“4 songs off 4 different albums from the past 15 years, it is a homage to these fine individuals that were the faces behind the live silhouettes of The Ocean Collective for the past decade, and our send-off to close this recent chapter of the band’s (much longer) history.
“So where do we go from here…?
Just about…anywhere
Disorientated but alive
Boredom won’t get me tonight”– Refused
“Rest assured: this band is far from dead. The Ocean Collective will begin a new chapter in 2026.
“Robin has always been the main, and for many albums the only writer of music and lyrics in The Ocean. A new album is not only on the horizon, it’s been written for quite some time already, and will be recorded this year.
“We would like to thank you all for being a part of our journey throughout all these years, it means the world to us. We are looking forward to this next chapter, and can’t wait to share new music with you.”
It’s interesting to see the band march forward in defiance of all the departures. Still, if they feel they still have the capability within the outfit to continue forward and find suitable replacements, then good on them. Here’s hoping for the fans’ sake that whoever they choose works out, because replacing so many parts at once feels like the whole Ship of Theseus conundrum. If you swap out all the members of a band, at what point does it stop being that band and become something else? Only time will tell.
