| Author |
Message |
|
| dawals |
 Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 11:44 pm |
 |
|
|
Joined: 28 Jul 2006
Posts: 5108
Location: Dublin
|
Doom lords THE GATES OF SLUMBER will unleash their fifth full-length album, The Wretch, on May 10th via Rise Above Records / Metal Blade. Featuring eight slabs of punishing metal, The Wretch boils doom down to its purest form, resulting in the Indianapolis trio's finest work to date.
Recorded during the cold British winter of 2010 at London's Orgone Studios and produced by Jaime Gomez Arellano (GHOST, ANGEL WITCH), The Wretch sees The Gates Of Slumber pushing its trademark blend of skull-crushing riffs and pounding rhythms to new heights and marks a return to the slower all-out doom tempos of the group's early albums combined with "true doom metal" lyrical themes.
From the funereal crawl of opener 'Bastards Born' and the all-powerful title track, to the pounding stomp of 'The Scovrge Ov Drvnkenness', the barbaric 'To The Rack With Them' and the epic 'Castle Of The Devil', The Wretch is a future classic featuring outstanding performances and some of the heaviest metal you will hear in 2011.
The album's deathly cover art is taken from a watercolor and gouache painting by Arik "Moonhawk" Roper (HIGH ON FIRE) titled "Emerald Eclipse".
"This record is frustration and disappointment put to music", said The Gates Of Slumber frontman and founding member Karl Simon. "No heroics this time, no swords; no sorcery. No fantasy. That stuff is OK; it's fun...whatever, but we don't feel it these days. This one is all about others let you down almost as much as you let yourself down. It might not make sense to you, but then you probably only have the last two records as a digital download. That, or your world is summed up by someone else's soundbite."
The Wretch tracklisting:
'Bastards Born'
'The Scovrge Ov Drvnkenness'
'To The Rack With Them'
'Day Of Farewell'
'Castle Of The Devil'
'Coven Of Cain'
'The Wretch'
'Iron And Fire'
Prio to the release of the new record, The Gates Of Slumber will head to Europe for a two week tour with US doom veterans PLACE OF SKULLS. The band will wrap the European trek on April 16th with a performance as one of the featured acts at the 2011 Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Holland where it will share the stage with CANDLEMASS, SWANS and more. The band will then kick off a U.S. tour alongside ORANGE GOBLIN on May 28th in New York City.
Tour dates:
March (with Place Of Skulls)
31 - Helsinki, Finland - Kuudes Linja
April (with Place Of Skulls)
1 - Oulu, Finland - Nuclear Nightclub
2 - Turku, Finland - Klubi
5 - Nürnberg, Germany - KV
6 - Lenzburg, Switzerland - Met Bar
7 - Wien, Austria - Arena
8 - Vicenza, Italy - Sabotage
9 - Parma, Italy - Onirica Club
10 - Martigny, Switzerland - Les Caves du Manoir
12 - Paris, France - Le Labo - Théatre de Ménilmontant
13 - Barcelona, Spain - Rocksound
14 - Essen, Germany - Turock (Gates Of Slumber only)
16 - Tilburg, Holland - Green Room (as part of the 2011 Roadburn Festival)
Really looking forward to this, I love all of their albums. Pity they're not coming back on to Dublin on this European tour. That last Fibbers gig was class. |
|
|
| Back to top |
 
|
| Slaughterday |
| Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 12:23 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 1677
Location: Athlone
|
| Completely forgot that they had a new one coming out, same thing happened me with the new Doomsword album too! Hymns of Blood And Thunder was excellent, but Conqueror is still their best...phenomenal album. Definitely one of the most consistent bands in heavy metal today. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Doomquake |
| Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 12:24 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 09 Jun 2005
Posts: 1410
Location: Belfast
|
| Karl and the lads will be back! The last album was a stormer. Looking forward to see where this one takes them. Not liking the artwork much on first impression. Roper can be ropey sometimes. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Worthless Recluse |
| Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 12:38 am |
|
|
Joined: 26 Apr 2008
Posts: 1939
Location: Underground Church
|
New song Coven of Cain:
http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured/exclusive-gates-of-slumber-coven-of-cain/
Not immediately blown away by the song after the initial listen and not sure about the drumming in particular. I had read that the new album is a return to more Vitus-influenced doom rather than the HM leanings of the late - slightly worried about that as I absolutely loved Hymns in particular and played it to death. Still, can see why pushing on in a similar direction mightn't work and I have enough faith in them to put the time in with the new one. Hopefully I'll be raving about it in a few weeks. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| FERGLOR |
| Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:09 am |
|
|
Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 5028
Location: dubh linn/crow u r lovely o)
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Padre Pio |
| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 9:30 am |
|
|
Joined: 25 May 2007
Posts: 6813
Location: The great omnipotent goat sits on the pentagram
|
BUMP!
Any futher opinions on this album?
To be honest it completely passed me buy upon release (despite me being a fan of the band for years) and I only picked it up last week.
Anyway, I have to say I like it a lot. Obviously it's a lot slower and less epic than their previous few albums, but the crawling, miserable and heavy sounds emanating from this album are very pleasing to my ears. At times it sounds uncannily like "Mournful Cries" and "Die Healing", and as they are my favourite Saint Vitus albums I am not complaining! |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| dawals |
| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 10:36 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 28 Jul 2006
Posts: 5108
Location: Dublin
|
I ordered the vinyl version online but they sent me the CD (sealed) so I sent it back without even listening to it. That was a few months so still haven't got around to re-ordering it  |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Worthless Recluse |
| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 1:45 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 26 Apr 2008
Posts: 1939
Location: Underground Church
|
| Despite my initial reservations it grew on me. Still prefer the previous two albums but there's a lot to be said for that stripped-down and simpler style. The album was impressive in its miserableness and, as the title suggests, wretchedness. The material was really powerful live too. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Alex Blume |
| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 6:55 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 28 Jan 2011
Posts: 10
|
I just discovered this band, believe it or not, and started with this album and am working my way backwards. Have everything but their first one at this point, which seems hard to get.
I think this album is the strongest I've heard so far, but all of it is just really great stuff!
First song struck me as having really heavy Saint Vitus influences, which was great, but I'm glad that the whole thing didn't just stick with that sound. Incredible production too! And my hat's off to any band who's got the balls to switch to lead parts and not even have rhythm parts underneath, just bass!
THAT is fucking metal. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Padre Pio |
| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 9:31 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 25 May 2007
Posts: 6813
Location: The great omnipotent goat sits on the pentagram
|
Alex Blume wrote: And my hat's off to any band who's got the balls to switch to lead parts and not even have rhythm parts underneath, just bass!
THAT is fucking metal.
I definitely agree with you! It's one of their trademarks I guess and I think it sounds great. Makes the songs transfer better to the stage too. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| FERGLOR |
| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 10:23 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 5028
Location: dubh linn/crow u r lovely o)
|
Probably helps that they have one of the best bass players in heavy metal. Whatever about on record, his live sound is totally commanding, especially apparent during solo parts.
Shame about the new drummer, shit compared to the previous lad
(Please excuse the temporary lapse in my usual HM bookwormliness in omitting the relevant character's names) |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Dread Pirate Sid |
| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:03 am |
|
|
Joined: 22 May 2009
Posts: 1060
Location: The Spanish Main
|
FERGLOR wrote: Probably helps that they have one of the best bass players in heavy metal. Whatever about on record, his live sound is totally commanding, especially apparent during solo parts.
Shame about the new drummer, shit compared to the previous lad
(Please excuse the temporary lapse in my usual HM bookwormliness in omitting the relevant character's names)
Jason McCash is the bass player, and yeah, he's phenomenal live. Allows Karl to stick to lead and vocals, rhythm be damned. And "Iron" Bob Fouts was their previous drummer, sadly missed if you ask me. Nice bunch of beer-swilling doom hounds too. Good lads.
Conqueror is definitely still their most accessible release, and it took me a while to get The Wretch alright, but repeated listens have borne fruit. Still need to check out their earlier stuff, mind, much to my shame. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| FERGLOR |
| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:32 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 5028
Location: dubh linn/crow u r lovely o)
|
| The songs on the wretch are pretty poor I feel, a lot of rehashing of riffs from previous albums, and a lot aimless guitar noodling to fill out badly structured songs |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| jasonlekberg |
| Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 4:11 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 11 Mar 2012
Posts: 3
|
| fuckin love these guys. I came up with them in Indiana. Good dudes. So glad to see them doing so well. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| ISEN TORR |
| Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 9:55 am |
|
|
Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 844
Location: England
|
Listened to the last album, thought it sucked dogs balls. I have to echo the sentiment of poor songs, bad production, and they're going nowhere fast. They had great potential, but after that MCD, they seemed to throw something new out every five minutes.
Their e-friends love 'em, but having e-friends talk you up on the internet doesn't equate to good songs.
My money is on ORODRUIN, they leave them in the dust. And the new COLD MOURNING stuff. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
