Indiana-based doom metal trio, THE GATES OF SLUMBER, return with their self-titled new full-length, out today via Svart Records! The record serves as the band’s first new output since 2011’s The Wretch and their sixth overall.
The Gates Of Slumber is available on CD and digitally as well as vinyl in the following color variants: Black/White Marble, Transparent Blue (limited), and Black. Find physical orders HERE and digital orders HERE.
Watch THE GATES OF SLUMBER’s “Embrace The Lie” video 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, 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 trio’s chemistry is obvious; their transitions are buttery smooth even as the temp shifts in a lovable organic fashion. But the best things about THE GATES OF SLUMBER has always been the band’s understanding that their forebearers (Sabbath, Vitus, and others) did more than doom out – they wrote articulate songs with stylistic variation.” – Decibel Magazine “For their part, Brown and Janiak provide a perfect foil to Simon’s saturnine riffs and smoldering solos. THE GATES OF SLUMBER has always been about the power of three musicians playing off one another, live in the room. It’s a gift to have that back.” – Bandcamp Daily “…one of the finest doom metal albums of 2024, absolutely crushing and uncompromising in its approach.” – Heavy Music HQ “A more than worthy successor with heavy, cumbersome doom metal from the premier league. The Gates Of Slumber is Black Sabbath without psychedelics: riffs on riffs, mixed with heavy bass lines and devastating drums. It is an enormous, slow ode to the foundations that characterize the doom metal genre.” – Rock Tribune (BE) “…a strong contender for one of the best doom releases of 2024.” – Forgotten Scroll “This is doom in its original form. There’s no ostentation, padding, experimentation, stylistic detours, modern influences, or anything other than pure, unadulterated, traditional doom metal. And do you know what? For a style this old and this well-worn, it sounds remarkably vibrant, albeit in a glacial doomy sort of way. The Gates Of Slumber boasts such a strong collection of tracks that it reminds you of why you liked the classic style so much in the first place.” –Wonderbox Metal “There is a certain elegance in the simplicity of the riffing and tempo. Each instrument is given plenty of room to breathe and while it has that great distorted doom metal sound, it still maintains a production that steers away from being just a wall of sound…. not all doom metal is good but when it is, it is glorious. THE GATES OF SLUMBER record should be a blueprint for other doom metal bands to witness how it can be done correctly.” – Wormwood Chronicles
