It had to be the best album of their career.

But before recording The Ocean at the End over an 18-month period, the trio of singer Jeff Martin, drummer Jeff Burrows and bassist Stuart Chatwood, embarked on 2012’s Reformation Tour.

They wanted to know that they were still an awe-inspiring unit.

“It wasn’t about gauging the response of our fans, it was more about gauging the response from ourselves,” Martin says.

“There were three things that we needed to prove.

“One was that the band could go on stage and own it again, and be one of the great rock bands in the world.

“We proved that, and [we were] even better than before we took our hiatus.

“The second thing was whether we could find the brotherly love that we once so passionately had for one another.

“And, without going into it, I needed to prove to Stuart and Jeff that I was once again captain of the ship.

“They wanted me to prove that to them.

“If we were going to go into a studio, I had to be that captain.

“Once we were all satisfied with that, then it was like, ‘Yes, ok, if The Tea Party is going to make a record then we have to make a record that stands up to anything we’ve done in the past.

“That’s a big call.

“So the three of us decided to take our time, and not rush this.

“If we were going to put 11 songs on a record, then every single one of them [had to be] one of the greatest Tea Party songs.”

The Ocean at the End, their first studio release since 2004’s Seven Circles, certainly delivers.

It has a pure, atmospheric and grandiose sensibility and avoids bells and whistles.

The album is the sound of three superb rock musicians in a room, recharged and reinvigorated.

The party is far from over.

The Ocean at the End was recorded in a Toronto studio over four different recording sessions across an 18-month period.

“We let the record organically take shape,” Martin says.

“Then we could sit back and look at it and see how it was growing.

“And I really took my time with the lyrics because I wanted the words to paint those musical pictures properly and resonate with it all.

“The three of us are our own worst critics, there isn’t a music journalist out there that can be more critical than we are.

“When we say this is definitely one of the best things we’ve ever done, we mean it.”

The Tea Party broke up acrimoniously in 2005, but the life-long friends announced reunion performances in 2011.

During their hiatus Martin recorded with two projects, The Armada and Jeff Martin 777.

In a previous interview the singer admitted that one of the reasons for his exit from The Tea Party was the direction of the their music.

The Ocean at the End was an opportunity to wash the slate clean.

“I certainly wanted to get away from where Seven Circles ended up going, and even The Interzone Mantras,” Martin says.

“[Editing software] Pro Tools and all that stuff.

“That is not The Tea Party.

“The Tea Party is done on an old Neve [mixing] desk with Fairchild compressors, everything is analogue.

“And in a big room so I can capture that beast called Jeff Burrows.

“So all of my mic’ing techniques and everything I’ve learned since the inception of The Tea Party, I recollected it all.

“I put it all on the table, so all of my cards were dealt.”

Martin has lived in Australia for a number of years, the nation that holds The Tea Party’s biggest fanbase outside of Canada.

It’s poetic then that The Ocean at the End was written across both countries.

“We had two writing sessions,” Martin says.

“One was in Byron Bay while I was still living there.

“The other, which was the longer of the two, was in Windsor [Ontario], our home town.

“Which was great because my mother was gravely ill at the time, so it was great to spend time with her.

“She passed away about a month ago.

“But it was great for us to be back where it all started, and we were writing as a band.

“It wasn’t me coming to the band with an idea.

“It was the three of us, facing each other, no ­gimmicks, just raw talent.”

This was a vast contrast to the recording of Seven Circles.

“First of all, there were no outside influences, which was necessary,” Martin, who also produced the record, says.

“And it was absolutely my fault, but back in those days [of Seven Circles] the studio turned into a rock ‘n’ roll circus and it was a party all the time.

“Not now.

“We had great fun, but the work ethic was just stunning, it was great.”

On The Ocean at the End Martin’s ­baritone croon is as powerful as ever and his mystic lyrics evoke elemental imagery and spiritual ideology.

Martin’s study the philosophical ­religion Thelema informed The Ocean at the End.

“My studies, as far as Thelemic philosophies are concerned, were reignited during the time away from the band,” Martin says.

“That has played a very big part on my personal spiritualism and on my abilities to have absolute focus at any given point.

“That’s probably the most important [influence] – ‘love is the law, love under will’ factor.

“This is my motto and it’s what I live by.”

Water is a recurring image on the record, not just in the title track but also The Black Sea and Water’s On Fire.

“Esoterically speaking, water is a conduit for our emotions,” Martin says.

“What I’ve shown on this record, poetically, is quite a kaleidoscope of emotions that are being expressed.

“You need a conduit, I think that’s probably why.

“It’s definitely a subconscious thing, but hindsight being 20/20 I’m very proud of it.

“Lyrically speaking, with how I write lyrics, it’s almost automatic writing.

“It’s a very esoteric thing that occurs; sometimes I don’t really remember [writing the lyrics].

“It’s an occult science in itself.”

Martin says the skills of The Tea Party are far beyond what they were when the group released the first of their eight records in 1991.

So if someone had played The Ocean at the End to Martin in the early ’90s, what would have surprised him about it?

“Just the depth of it, it probably would have unnerved me and frightened me,” Martin says.

“It would be like, ‘I don’t see how we can get there.’

“But we got there.”

The Tea Party and The Superjesus perform at Newcastle Panthers on Monday, October 20.

Tickets are available through Moshtix.

Alive has three Tea Party prize packs to give away, each containing a double pass to the show, a tour poster and a copy of The Ocean at the End.

For your chance to win fill out the coupon in today's Mercury and return it to our office by noon on Wednesday.