Oceans Ate Alaska is a British metalcore band from Birmingham, UK, formed in 2011.
Uniting boundaries between multiple genres in modern metal, Oceans Ate Alaska—Chris Turner on drums, James Kennedy and Adam Zytkiewicz on guitar, Mike Stanton on bass, and Jake Noakes on vocals—made waves during 2015 with their full-length debut Lost Isles. Fusing unpredictable polyrhythms and a sporadic partnering of melodic and dissonant passages, Rock Sound and Revolver both pegged Oceans Ate Alaska as a “Band to Watch,” while they landed on Alternative Press’s “100 Bands You Need To Know” list and covered HM Magazine.
The Birminghamian tech metal quintet’s second full-length album, Hikari, translates to “Light” in English and represents their current mindset, illuminating major strides in the group’s sonic vocabulary. Following a lyrical and musical theme rooted in Samurai mythology, the 11-track album blends traditional Japanese instruments with Oceans Ate Alaska’s dynamic flare. Ultimately, Hikari means both a new “light” for Oceans Ate Alaska and heavy music at large.