”What the f*ck is this?!” Oceanhoarse's new single's opening line sums up the year 2020 • GRIMM Gent

Oceanhoarse started their year with a successful European tour with Marko Hietala and released a live album The Damage is Done -LIVE! (recorded by Kimmo Ahola [Nightwish, Marko Hietala] and mixed by Tuomas Wäinölä) in the beginning of June. Now it is time to hear something new, as Oceanhoarse reveals their first first studio single Locks, taken from their upcoming studio album!

Recorded at the East Sound Studios & Scandal Studios by Kari Huikuri and mastered at the Chartmakers by Svante Forsbäck, Locks represents a new side of the band. Raw and powerful, live-in-studio-style recorded guitar riffs are now accompanied with extra layers of vocal harmonies in the choruses to highlight the lyrics.

Ben Varon, the guitar player of the group shares about the lyrical content:

“We begin to accumulate different kinds of locks inside us almost as soon as we’re born. By the time you’re an adult, these locks have a tremendous effect on how you view the world and live your life. They color the way you see things, while preventing you from seeing some aspects altogether. Things like wealth, status, the status quo and social pressure all play a part in how you think, what you feel like you can say or do, what you believe is accepted behavior, and which of your dreams are possible to go after.”
”I’ve had a few rare moments where I’ve been able to see past some of these locks, but it is not easy. Still, I believe it is something worth pursuing, and I’ll keep trying to break these locks off one at a time until it’s my time to go!”

By the end of the summer, the pandemic situation turned better in Finland and a handful of festivals were organized in August with new, restricted safety distance limits and hand-hygiene cautions. Oceanhoarse got a chance to get back on stage not only once, but twice after a six months long break from live shows.

The group’s bass player Jyri Helko summarizes:

”For me, Saarihelvetti and Dark River festivals were the personal highlights of the summer”
”We also played Locks for the first time in front of an audience and I gotta say that this song feels very special: I sensed the same feeling of blowing off some steam in the crowd as I recall I had when hearing the song for the first time at our rehearsal place!”

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