Sea of Rains

Sea of Rains is a doom- metal band based in Manila, Philippines.

Much of our lyrical themes are based on classic doom metal themes: negative human emotions like misery, sadness, alienation, anger, and desperation.

Our musical delivery may vary however. Though our sound is deeply rooted to doom metal, touches of various subgenres can also be heard and felt, including Gothic Rock, Progressive Rock/Metal, Melodic Death Metal, and even Thrash Metal.

Sea of Rains was formed in February 2003 by Ram (lead vocals), Jomi (guitars), Leo (keyboards), Jenni (bass and backing vocals), JP (drums) and Michael (guitars). The band’s initial concept was a crossover of multiple genres: Doom Metal, Gothic Rock, Progressive Metal, and Melodic Death Metal. After only one month of rehearsal, the band made their debut live performance at Musik at Kafe in Cubao. This was with thrash metal bands Resurrected and Jack Hammer.

Their next live performance was in Sickfest April 2003 at Freedom Bar. This event marked Sea of Rains as a new act to watch for. With the gig dominated by mostly fast-paced death metal, thrash and hardcore acts, Sea of Rains changed the mood as the only band then to play at a much slower pace, with their first composition, “The Invitation”, a song that shows much of the doom side of the band’s songwriting. Also, the band included in their set cover songs from Paradise Lost and Dark Tranquility, asserting to themselves and to the audience where they are rooted from.

Internal problems were not rare for a newly established band. On May 2003, founding guitarist Michael was removed from the band for various reasons. He then focused his efforts on his other commitments, specifically as bass player of death metal act Faster than Satan. Michael was immediately replaced by Eric as the new guitar player.

June 2003 was a break for Sea of Rains as Subkulture Productions decided to include them in their roster of regular bands to play in their events, including Klub Gargoyle (a regular gothic event), Faces of Rock (an event featuring a mix of various rock bands), and Children of Shadows (a mixed dark music event). This gave Sea of Rains the chance to share the stage with the likes of their most respected artists like Dahong Palay, Death by Stereo, and Philippine goth rock icons Dominion.June 28 was the night of the first out-of-town tour for the band: Klub Gargoyle Baguio. Here they played with Dominion and The Late Isabel in a jam-packed Cactus Bar.

After the successful Baguio tour, another problem came. Founding drummer and primary composer JP was forced to lay low due to serious health problems. This inflicted a substantial effect on the band, morale went low, and timetables were dropped. Even with the help of Dominion drummer Doi Porras, who played drums temporarily on various gigs, Sea of Rains knew they need a new permanent drummer soon, given that JP will not recover on time.

August was a new start for Sea of Rains when they found a new member, Gilbert who just returned from the U.K. After just a few practice sessions, Gilbert was now declared as the new permanent drummer of Sea of Rains and played in various gigs that took place from late August to October 2003, including Gods of Metal, Faces of Rock, and Children of Shadows.

September was also a time when Sea of Rains turned from sextet to septet. Previously, Jenni was both playing bass and the female vocal sequences. With the urgent need of having another member do the female vocal parts, the band acquired its latest and youngest member, Jocelyn. Shortly after doing several live performances as a septet, the band took a break from live performances to record their first single, “Vespertine Flight.”

“Vespertine Flight” was the first song recorded by Sea of Rains and was included in the local independent compilation “Ever After” with Resurrected’s “Race War” and other songs from local gothic, rock and metal acts. It was also the first Sea of Rains song ever to be heard on radio thru NU 107 Metal Madness and received an overwhelming positive response from a lot of listeners - metal, and non-metal.

After the success of ‘Vespertine Flight”, the band returned to the studio and recorded their second single, “Gehenna”. On the same month of November, Sea of Rains was interviewed together with Resurrected in the second episode of NU 107’s Metal Madness. There they played both “Vespertine Flight” and “Gehenna”. Compared to the response in the previous episode, both songs were overwhelmingly received by listeners as based on the messages that were sent to the radio station that night. This was also confirmed in the following night, when a gig entitled Divine Conquest: Gods of Metal 4 was flocked by metalheads and a lot of new people to satisfy their curiosity about Sea of Rains and the Gods of Metal community.

After all the fun of touring and playing gigs, the band finally released its first independently released recorded CD entitled “Sadness and Civilization” which features 5 tracks: “The Invitation”, “Vespertine Flight”, “Monologue”, “Gehenna”, and the instrumental “Prologue”. This was on April 2004, just a year after the band was founded.

At present, the band plays as a six-piece, due to the recent departure of guitarist Jomi. Sea of Rains has also acquired the commitment of founding drummer JP and session drummer Ryan due to the frequent unavailability of Gilbert. Sea of Rains is planning to release a second CD, this time a full album hopefully under a distribution deal for greater coverage nationwide.

We play live in different bars within Metro Manila. We go to provinces sometimes.

Sea of Rains is mainly influenced by bands of these subgenres:

Doom Metal: My Dying Bride, Anathema, Paradise Lost, Katatonia

Gothic Rock: The Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim

Gothic Metal: Theatre of Tragedy, Moonspell

Progressive: Strapping Young Lad, Opeth, After Forever

Melodic Death Metal: Dark Tranquility