Return To Slumber

I spent the early 2010's deep in a doom obsession. I'd discovered bands like Orchid, Blood Ceremony, Magic Circle and Kadavar... plus Rise Above Records... and I just ate that shit up. One of the bands that was big for me at the time was The Gates Of Slumber. The band was so good with their traditional doom metal sound. After a couple of really solid albums, they released Stormcrow in 2013, and that record was just perfect to me. Then in 2014, their bass player died of an overdose, and the band broke up in the wake of that tragedy.

I never expected to hear from The Gates Of Slumber again, so I was shocked to discover that they were releasing a new album last year. As soon as I checked out a couple of their new songs, holy shit, I knew that I needed to get my hands on the vinyl. Svart Records is out of Europe, so I needed to be patient and not rush to buy the colored vinyl and pay overseas shipping costs... it took a couple of months, but I was happy to finally grab the blue vinyl from a US seller on eBay.

Man, this record is just so good. I'd listened to it a couple of times on Spotify when it was released, but I didn't really spend any time with it until the record arrived. I've been listening to this a lot over the last couple of weeks, and it easily would have made it into my list of favorite metal albums for 2024. It is so good.

God Wills It

Back in April, Karl from The Gates Of Slumber posted on the band's Facebook page that he was looking to unload some of his TGOS vinyl collection to help pay expenses for an upcoming tour. I'm a sucker for buying records direct from a band, so I dropped him a line hoping to score a copy of either the Villain, Villain or Conqueror LPs. No luck. Apparently, Karl got hit with a bunch of orders and all he had left available was the Hymns Of Blood And Thunder LP and the God Wills It 12 inch.

By this point, I already had my heart set on buying something from him, and even though I couldn't get what I initially wanted, I couldn't just walk away empty handed, and took the opportunity to grab the band's 2005 EP.

Since the songs on this EP have been appeared on various other records over the years, this isn't really that essential. Still, as an early piece of history for The Gates Of Slumber, I'm quite happy to have this.

200 pressed on red vinyl.

Free Admission To The Gates Of Slumber

While on my Doom Metal kick earlier this year, I found myself continually reaching for The Gates Of Slumber. I love an underdog, and TGOS don't seem to get the love that the other Rise Above bands get. Hell, the Die Hard pressing of The Wretch, from 2011, is still available in the Rise Above store. Meanwhile, Die Hard pressings for other bands sell out within minutes. I'm not sure why The Gates Of Slumber get ignored...maybe it's because they are from the States, and you have to be from Europe to get love in the Doom Metal circles. I don't know. Either way, their new five song EP has been at the top of my playlist for the past few months.

One of the coolest things about the Stormcrow EP is that it is completely free. You can download it for free...plus with the purchase of a tshirt or hat, the band will send you the CD or vinyl as a free bonus. It's a pretty sweet deal.

Of course there is a price to be paid in the end, and that comes in the form of the shitty looking "Scion AV Presents" at the top of the front cover artwork. Such a shame, because that logo really detracts from the cover art.

Like all of The Gates of Slumber stuff, I wasn't too excited with the songs with the first couple of listens, but this grew on me something fierce. Pure Doom perfection.