The Gates of Slumber

Though it would completely undermine the spirit of the project, I sort of wish there were 74,000 doom and/or sludge bands to check out. The Gates of Slumber are a Doom band from Indiana. I need to figure out a way to categorize by location so that we can see the concentrations of good or bad metal across the globe. I’ll work on that. Anyway, I was instructed to listen to this band from a random dude on last.fm who had SUPER compatibility with my musical taste, so I was pretty excited to listen to this band. It isn’t really on purpose that all my entries have been mostly positive so far. It’s just that I keep getting recommendations from people who have awesome taste in music. I’ll try to keep the next few random for variety.

I checked out the “Conqueror” album, which was released in 2008 and, according to Wikipedia, was their first full-length release in the US. Metal Archives shows two full-lengths prior to Conqueror, os perhaps that was through European distribution? Or maybe Wikipedia is wrong (shocking).

I stewed over the album over the past week, because it’s very good, but I wasn’t sure what to write about it. Some people think that you should be able to form your opinion on something on one listen, and it doesn’t require multiple listens to write a review. This one took a bit more than one run-through to decide I really liked it. Conqueror has a very sad, doomy feel, with both quiet, bass-filled interludes and loud, extremely heavy, down-tuned riffs. Most of it is pretty slow-going, which isn’t the best for this beer-fueled ‘headache’ I’m nursing from last night’s Hank III show, but this is usually my favourite style of music so today is just an out-of-character day for me. It’s really a miracle I can even form sentences.

The vocals are fairly clean and what I’d expect from a doom metal band. Nothing too revolutionary but also nothing that distracts from the rest of the music, which works for me. The highlight of the entire album are the really well-done riffs and solos that are scattered throughout. I think that sets it apart from a lot of other doom metal bands that stick mostly to heavy rhythm riffs and don’t focus too much on any interesting lead work. That pretty much makes the album for me.  The last song on Conqueror is a 16 minute, 4-part song called “Dark Valley Suite” that’s pretty epic and a highlight for me.  I read that it was a tribute to Robert E. Howard, a pulp fiction writer who I’ve been meaning to check out for some time.  He apparently is the inspiration for most of TGoS’s lyrics.

I bought the album before listening to it first, which is rare for me, but I was excited at the prospect of a new doom metal band to add to my collection. Like most doom metal, it’s most suitable for listening to alone while you’ve got some time to relax and lose yourself in the heaviness of it. I can’t see this being any good at parties or while drinking, it’s pretty depressing as a whole. I’d be curious to see how the material goes over live. They’re worth checking out if you like doom or even if you’re just a fan of guitar, the lead work is extraordinarily awesome and the production is great. It’s definitely got a place among my collection for gloomy days, and true to what Hank III said last night, music is the best damn psychiatrist you’ll ever have.

The Gates of Slumber @ Metal Archives

The Gates of Slumber on Myspace