Oceans of Sadness hail from Antwerp, Belgium, where the group's eclectic mixture of doom, death, black, and goth metal styles had already begun drawing local attention at the demo stage, before maturing over the course of several official releases like 1998's Between Heaven, Earth and Beauty, 2000's For We Are, and 2002's Laughing Tears, Crying Smile. This schizophrenic musical gumbo didn't exactly bring Oceans of Sadness a ton of recognition on a mainstream level, however, so, beginning with 2004's Send in the Clowns, bandmembers Tijs Vanneste (vocals), Wim Melis (guitar), Tom Van Cauwenberghe (guitar), Hans Claes (keyboards), Jo Van Heghe (bass), and Guy Vernelen (drums) started to streamline their songwriting into a more commercial, virtually growl-free brand of goth metal style. This transformation was primarily showcased on 2007's Mirror Palace and 2008's The Arrogance of Ignorance albums, but despite being more accessible, has yet to make a significant impact on Oceans of Sadness' career. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi
