Indianapolis’ The Gates of Slumber have released some cracking albums in the last few years, this time on a new label, Rise Above, they are back to brandish their doom inspired heavy metal upon the world.
From the opening tune ‘Chaos Calling’ it is clear that Karl Simon has been let loose a lot more on the guitar, there are more riffs and more solos bringing out his many influences, rather than the Sabbath/Saint Vitus note bending and hammer-on’s usually associated with this style. The production seems quite quiet (not much reverb coming out), but still powerful, whilst in some places it possesses much more guitar prominence than bass on this release compared to ‘Conqueror’. ‘Death Dealer’ has some wonderful solos again, whilst its faster pace gives this album the energy it deserves. Recent live performance have been an intense experience, it would seem that this has rubbed off in the studio too. The true doom cannot be subsided for long; ‘Beneath the Eyes of Mars’ follows this path and the story of war flowing into the doom epic ‘The Doom of Aceldama’. The bass suddenly explodes with the intro to ‘The Bringer of War’, quite apt really with a title like that. Again, the doom notes make you nod in appreciation whilst there are experiments in more epic singing from Karl, once again, the guitar is playing its arse off before going into a punishing heavy riff, it feels as if the snare drum is going to come out of your speakers and bash you around the room, there is some heavy hitting here. ‘Decent into Madness’ gives the listener an unusual soulful guitar solo, plenty of emotion clearly being played, quite oddball really compared to the rest of the album, but not to say it’s out of place, it proves that the arrangements can be different (even including keyboards) and still have a coherence on record, and then there is the frantic drum fills mixed in for good measure.
If you appreciate classic metal with lots of doom, then you need to get this release. Any fan of the band should already know that this will be a great record, but it is good to hear the band progressing musically ever further into the nihilistic world of classic doom albums. This is well worth spending 53 plus minutes of your life with. These gents produce some great albums with strong lyrical thought, doom laden guitar wizardry and once again, true to form The Gates of Slumber give us a killer release. Watch out for some live dates in October this year.
http://www.myspace.com/thegatesofslumber
http://www.riseaboverecords.com
