Indiana-based doom metal trio, THE GATES OF SLUMBER return with their self-titled new full-length, set for release on November 29th via Svart Records. The record serves as the band’s first new output since 2011’s The Wretch and their sixth overall.
In advance of the record’s release, the band has shared their second single, “Full Moon Fever,” perfectly timed for the Halloween season.
Comments founding guitarist/vocalist Karl Simon, “If my memory serves me right, ‘Full Moon Fever’ was the first song for the new album. The music was written around about when Tom Petty died. And yes, the song is dedicated to him. Not inspired by his music per se, but I was always a big Petty fan and yeah. Figure it out on your own time… The first set of lyrics I did for the song had more of a comical feel to them. More of a Motörhead treatment: A werewolf chasing cars and shit like that. But that’s not the feel I wanted for the song in the end. The band was always meant to be a serious band. But I would be denying the truth if I said that it didn’t have a lot of tongue in cheek moments. That wasn’t what we wanted to do with it at all. Part of the fun is playing it straight. So, I reworked the lyrics a few weeks before we actually recorded the album. I have to pat myself on the back. I think the break down is one of the best bits I ever came up with.”
Stream THE GATES OF SLUMBER’s “Full Moon Fever” at THIS LOCATION.
Watch THE GATES OF SLUMBER’s “Embrace The Lie” video at THIS LOCATION.
The Gates Of Slumber will be available on CD and digitally as well as vinyl in the following color variants: Black/White Marble, Transparent Blue (limited), and Black. Find physical preorders HERE and digital orders HERE.
THE GATES OF SLUMBER was formed by Karl Simon in 1998 and underwent various lineup incarnations between 1998 and 2001, when the Blood Encrusted Deth Axe demo was recorded with Jamie Walters aka Dr. Phibes/Athenar (Boulder, Midnight) on drums and bass. In 2003, Jason McCash took over all bass duties and was a long-time member of the band until his untimely passing in 2014, after which Simon decided it was time to call it quits.
That was until 2019 when renowned metal festival Hell Over Hammaburg wanted to bring the band back to the stage to perform at the festival’s 2020 edition. Simon reformed the band with its original drummer Chuck Brown and bassist Steve Janiak. “We’d been asked several times to play Hell Over Hammaburg. But there was no ‘we’ to play,” said Simon. “The germ of the idea started. We started re-learning songs from the first LP. It wasn’t too long into the rehearsals that we started coming up with new songs.
Following a short reunion tour, the COVID pandemic decelerated the band’s writing process. Half of the album was written however the remaining half was left to stew in its juices. But they toiled on ultimately composing six wholly engrossing new hymns of true doom metal excellence. With chest quaking songs honoring such greats as Saint Vitus and Penance, straight forward bangers, lyrics inspired by the Black Death and John Carpenter’s The Fog, The Gates Of Slumber is a truly crushing work to behold.
The Gates Of Slumber Track Listing:
- Embrace The Lie
- We Are Perdition
- Full Moon Fever
- At Dawn
- The Fog
- The Plague
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