Despite the many accolades that they’ve received over the past decade, OCEANS OF SLUMBER have never rested on their laurels. The Houston heavies have come to redefine the Southern Gothic by casting their tales of hope and despair against an ever-shifting backdrop of progressive metal. While it was produced by their long-time collaborator and GRAMMY nominee Joel Hamilton, the band’s sixth album and first for Season of Mist expands their vision to dark, cinematic new heights.
Where Gods Fear to Speak comes out tomorrow, Friday, September 13, but you can hear all ten monumental songs today by listening to full album stream below.
OCEANS OF SLUMBER defy any and all conventions. Where Gods Fear to Speak opens with more of the sultry, doom metal headbanging that the band’s long-time acolytes have come to expect, but the album’s spellbinding title track breaks entirely new ground. Punishing blast beats and a blackened torrent of melodic tremolo picking collide with powerhouse cleans, a skyrocketing guitar solo and synths that swirl like the aura of a mystical planet.
So what are we to call this otherworldly occurrence?
“Dark cinematic metal” says the band’s maestro Dobber Beverly. Underground metalheads will always recognize him as the drummer for grindcore legends INSECT WARFARE, but Dobber is a classically trained pianist who composed every grand note on Where Gods Fear to Speak. “We’ve taken the raw and heavier direction of our last two albums and elevated it to the scale of a blockbuster IMAX movie”.
Staying true to OCEANS OF SLUMBER‘s irreverent musings, Where Gods Fear to Speak takes more inspiration from The Handmaid’s Tale, The Dark Tower and Cormac McCarthy than it does OPETH. Each song acts as another gripping plot twist along a narrative art that’s part science fiction, part western gunslinger with a heavy dose of post-apocalyptic romance. Lead single “Poem of Ecstasy” splices together an album’s worth of stand-out moments into its own mini-epic, cutting from a moonlight piano sonata to outlaw country, doom-laden power metal and what can only be described as “dystopian grindcore”.
“I’ll do everything to stay by your side” frontwoman Cammie Beverly belts, her cleans pushing back against the charging blast beats like a force field.
Performing such a radical play on extreme metal requires a talented cast of characters. Dobber‘s NECROFIER bandmate Semir Ozerkan adds heat with harsh backing vocals and warm but bruising bass fills, while co-guitarists Alex Davis and Chris Kritikos roar through Where Gods Fear to Speak like a sandstorm. The album also gets a lift from two special guests. MOONSPELL‘s Fernando Ribeiro casts his big bad shadow over the chugging, rumbling “Run From the Light”. Amidst a spirited tug of war between distorted tremolo picking and folksy acoustic strumming, “Prayer” is visited by gothic angel Mikael Stanne of DARK TRANQUILLITY.
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.