Album of the day: The Gates of Slumber – Conqueror (I Hate Records 2008)

(From our archives): It would be easy for the casual listener to dismiss Gates of Slumber as a Sabbath worship band. Indeed, their sound is a throwback to the old school doom laden sounds of the grandfathers of heavy metal, but lucky for them they have more to offer than rehashed riffs.

On their third full length, the trio of Jason McCash (bass), Karl Simon (guitar and vocals) and newest addition Bob Fouts (drummer) have continued with their tried but true formula of brooding yet gargantuan metal. Add a cover which depicts a triumphant warrior who holds the King’s severed head in his hand and whose busty Amazonian conquest languishes by his side, and you have all the makings of a classic.

‘Trapped in the Web’ opens the album on an atmospheric note with menacing organ, than quickly breaks out the riffs. Vocalist Simon’s clean styling’s truly compliment the fuzz-laden instrumental work which was recorded with tube amps and analog.
‘Ice Worm’ is the album’s focal point, featuring more changing tempos than you can shake a stick at, blues soaked guitars and cymbal heavy percussion. With a fantastic breakdown whose high string guitar solo is short and sweet, it’s a bouncy doom-pop track that clocks in at just over 5 minutes.

Closing track ‘Dark Valley Suite’, which is the albums longest at 16:30, features a multiplicity of styles ranging from down-tempo, methodical instrumentation to catchy guitar driven tour de force. The epic tune, which features the quiet in quiet / loud about halfway through the track, sees melodious clean vocals overtop effects pedals and pure ambiance, along with a tom-heavy finale.

Conqueror, it’s a lengthy listen at exactly one hour, and can only be described as a stunning, beautiful and sinister dirge-heavy work that is a strong addition to any collection.
Sarah Kitteringham

Tags: album of the day, doom, the gates of slumber

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 30th, 2009 at 5:13 am and is filed under 2009, Roadburn Recommended . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.