“I never intended to pick up with THE GATES OF SLUMBER ever again in 2014. While I did start the band and wrote most of the first album it was never intended to be a one man show.”
These words belong to Karl Simon and they are absolutely sincere.
He was the one who formed the band in 1998, with Jason McCash taking over bass duties in 2003. McCash remained a long-time member until his untimely death in 2014, after which Simon decided the group would not continue. The death of another bandmate from “The Wretch” lineup, drummer J. Clyde Paradis, in 2016, was yet another tragic blow. In fact, his predecessor, Brian Scott Fouts, also passed away in 2020, as if pain and loss hadn’t already hit the group hard enough.
Undeniably, it would take tremendous courage for the only remaining member of Indiana’s true doom trio to reform the band. Before that, Karl Simon went on to form WRETCH, named after THE GATES OF SLUMBER‘s last album before their initial split. Then, in 2019, the renowned metal festival Hell Over Hammaburg wanted to bring the band back to perform at the festival’s 2020 edition. Simon reformed the band with original member Chuck Brown on drums and Steve Janiak on bass, and they got back to work.
“We’d been asked several times to play Hell Over Hammaburg. But there was no “we” to play. 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.”, states Simon.
After a reunion tour was completed, the COVID pandemic slowed down further progress. Half of the new album had already been written, but the remaining half required more time. Sooner or later, though, THE GATES OF SLUMBER would return, making one of the most unexpected and highly anticipated comebacks in the metal world!
Now, after thirteen long and difficult years, THE GATES OF SLUMBER have finally reopened with their sixth, self-titled studio album. The all-encompassing might of old-school doom metal resonates through every track. Traditional sound and occult weirdness meet in compositions that evoke SAINT VITUS, PENANCE, REVEREND BIZARRE, TROUBLE, and PENTAGRAM, with songs drenched in crushing heaviness. The lyrics, inspired by the Black Death and John Carpenter’s “The Fog”, conjure a dark and sinister atmosphere.
“The Gates of Slumber” is BLACK SABBATH stripped of psychedelics: riffs upon riffs, mingled with unearthly, echoing bass lines and gut-thrusting drums. It’s a massive, slow-paced ode to the fundamentals that defined the doom metal genre. The mid-tempo battle songs of earlier releases are absent, and there’s less of the epic sound akin to SLOUGH FEG and GRAND MAGUS. Instead, the band seems to pick up where they left off with “The Wretch” – strong, unadorned, fully upfront. The riffs are grounded, the vocals grief-stricken, and the rhythm mournfully slow.
“Embrace the Lie” wastes no time in luring us into its darkness full of dangerous illusions – but there’s no musical deception here. Slow, powerful, and almost overwhelming, it’s the perfect opening track, seamlessly leading into “We Are Perdition”, which begins with a mesmerizing bassline before unfolding into a painful elegy, thanks in large part to Steve Janiak’s contribution.
Next is “Full Moon Fever”, another solid, bulk-metal monolith in the vein of SAINT VITUS, proving that traditional US doom metal still stands strong. “At Dawn” follows and is as black and Sabbathian as a song could be; a spine-chilling hymn of imminent, hopeless devastation, allowing only for one final, glorious stand.
The album closes with two tracks, each running over seven minutes: “The Fog” and “The Plague”. Both are masterful examples of how a trio that knows their craft can write songs capable of representing an entire genre. If someone asks you whether true doom metal is still being played on Earth in 2024, have them listen to these tracks. No stoner, no sludge, no drone; not epic, not gothic, not symphonic—just pure, traditional US doom metal to the core. This is music for the underground fanatics, for the torchbearers, for the true believers.
Undoubtedly, THE GATES OF SLUMBER is one of those bands that helped pioneer the early ’00s wave of underground metal. With five outstanding releases in seven years, they delivered some thunderous metal, building a reputation that led to tours with PENTAGRAM, REVEREND BIZARRE, SLOUGH FEG, and CATHEDRAL. Their return would be a major event in itself, but this return is a celebration of heavy metal and a strong contender for one of the best doom releases of 2024.
“The Gates of Slumber” will be released on November 29th by Svart Records, on both CD and LP.
Check the discussion about the album in our forum pages.
You can pre-order both the CD and LP here.
