The Ocean (DE), Psychonaut (BE), Pothamus (BE): 11 December at Paavli Kultuurivabrik

Damn.Loud Agency presents the German experimental post-metal collective The Ocean, on 11 December at Paavli Kultuurivabrik! Supported by Psychonaut and Pothamus.

The Ocean

Berlin-based The Ocean has been active since 2001, moving through various line-ups and creative periods and becoming one of the most distinctive names in contemporary heavy music. Its work shows influences of progressive metal, ambient and electronic music.

The recently released album “Solaris” opens a new chapter for The Ocean. It was born after major changes in the band’s line-up and continues the dystopian and existential themes of “Holocene”. The centre of the record is cosmic escapism, voyages of discovery, and questions about technological progress, power and human nature.

Over the years The Ocean has played around the world and toured with artists such as Opeth, Karnivool, Leprous and Katatonia. Their albums “Pelagial”, “Phanerozoic I & II” and “Holocene” brought the band international recognition, and “Phanerozoic II” reached the top 10 of the official German album chart.

Psychonaut

Psychonaut is a psychedelic post-metal trio from Mechelen, Belgium. Despite its classic three-piece line-up, their sound is broad and detailed, with a strong narrative and emotional charge. The album “World Maker” (2024) marks an important turning point in the band’s work. Inspired by personal life changes, fatherhood and loss, it shifts the focus from the philosophical complexity of earlier works towards clearer and more direct emotional expression. The record focuses on presence, reconciliation, and an awareness of life’s fragility and beauty, while keeping Psychonaut’s powerful and engaging sonic language.

Pothamus

Pothamus is a sludge / post-metal trio formed in Mechelen, Belgium in 2013. Its music is built on repeating riffs, floating drones, shamanic vocals, tribal rhythms and aggressive bass lines. The band connects its sound with metaphysics and philosophy, creating a distinctive worldview centred on acting together, letting go and collective catharsis, and invites listeners to abandon habitual beliefs and social constructions. The album “ABUR” (2025, Pelagic Records) takes their sound to an even more intense and integrated experience, treating chaos as a creative force.

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The variety of emerging European talent within the Paavli Kultuurivabrik programme is supported by Liveurope: the first pan-European initiative supporting concert venues in their efforts to promote emerging European artists.