Sweden’s Progressive Doom Rockers OCKRA Re-Sign To Argonauta Records And Release New Single
The band OCKRA arose in early 2018 in Gothenburg from what was left of the stoner doom band Sulphur Dreams. With a strong desire to stretch musical barriers away from what is known as classic stoner or doom metal, the trio around Jonas Nyström, Erik Björnlinger and Alex Spielhaupter set out to develop their songwriting skills and find their own style under the new name OCKRA. The band has a wide range of influences from metal to folk, americana and jazz.
The first EP with four songs was self-recorded in a ‘DIY’ spirit at the home studio in Onsala during spring/summer 2019 (with guest singer Ammy from EPA/Lastkaj14) and was released in March 2020 via Argonauta Records a week before the first lockdown put everything on hold. The songs were well received by the media and the reviews in online and print magazines turned out very positive. As an example, the EP got 12 out 15 points in Germany’s largest print magazine for extreme metal “Legacy”.
During the summer of 2021 the trio went out to the little village Hesedorf near Hamburg to record their debut album “Gratitude” together with Peter Voigtmann (The Ocean Collective, Heads.) at his studio “Die Mühle” (the mill). The calm environment and the nature around made it possible to go into a state of creative isolation. That may have had an impact on the music, which now has more elements of singer-songwriter and folk music.
The lyrics have been written in the shade of the pandemic and severe illnesses amongst close friends and family members in this period. Writing these very personal lyrics has been some kind of therapeutic and despite the severeness of the topics they are meant to provide a glimpse of hope.
Says the band: “We are stoked to be a part of the Argonauta family again! After having released our first EP
with Argonauta Records, continuing the good collaboration for the release of our debut album feels like the right next step for us to go. We thank Gero for this opportunity and look forward to joining a roster with bands that cover a variety of different heavy musical genres and beyond. Argonauta Records is the perfect companion for us!”
Give ear to the new single “We, Who Didn’t Know” with more news to be revealed soon:
Ockra is:
Jonas Nyström – drums and percussion
Erik Björnlinger – all guitars
Alex Spielhaupter – vocals, bass guitar, mellotron