Melbourne heavy enigmas Ocean Grove are set to release their fourth studio album ODDWORLD, on November 22 via ODDWORLD Records in Australia and SharpTone Records for the rest of the world.
A collection of songs that captures the band’s sonic roots as well as their fierce evolution over the years, ODDWORLD emerges instantly as the definitive Ocean Grove record; one that pays homage to the delectable diversity of 2017’s The Rhapsody Tapes while also spanning their entire catalogue and steering into exciting uncharted territory. Produced by Ocean Grove‘s own Sam Bassal along with creative and performance contributions from studio members Luke Holmes and Running Touch, ODDWORLD is exactly as its title suggests: beautifully chaotic, sonically kaleidoscopic and wholeheartedly one-of-a-kind.
Sam Bassal recently gave us some insight into the inspirations behind ‘ODDWORLD‘
Inspiration-wise for this record, I was definitely leaning on some of my favourite albums, and I was also really honing in on some hidden gems. I love to find bands who aren’t necessarily the biggest bands in the world and see what they’re doing. There are so many talented people in the world making music. And when you can be inspired by even one little thing that you heard, or on one idea – that’s a very cool thing.
There’s a band that I love, and they’ve turned into one of my favourite bands, it’s a French nu metal band called Pleymo. I looked up their backstory and their vibe, and I felt like they had something similar going on to Ocean Grove, funnily enough, creating a community-based kind of thing. I love the way that they make nu metal, and it really felt like it was in a similar vein to the way that OG has always gone about doing things. There’s a photo of them online, and every time I saw it, I was just like: this is Ocean Grove! It literally could’ve been us in the photo. They’re definitely a favourite of mine. They have this album called Episode 2: Medecine Cake, and f you like nu metal, you will very much enjoy that one. It’s in French, but there’s moments where it’s in English too, and it’s so fucking fresh. That is definitely one of my hidden gems.
And early 2000s metal was a huge inspiration as well for ODDWORLD. I was also listening to a lot of The Neptunes’ interesting production techniques. I’d also have to say culture in general, the culture and aesthetic in general of the early 2000s nu metal world. For me, P.O.D. are still a favourite from that era. I have to say it, but I have different thoughts on that though. P.O.D. are really big for their 2001 album, Satellite, which had all of their hits like Youth of the Nation and Alive, that kind of stuff. But my favourite nu metal band is actually P.O.D.’s stuff from 2006 to 2008 where they have these two records, Testify in 2006 and When Angels & Serpents Dance in 2008. They had to change guitar players, but for some reason that guitar player was making music I have definitely been inspired by ever since.
ODDWORLD – is out on November 22 via ODDWORLD Records
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