Though revered by critics and peers, OCEANS OF SLUMBER bow to no one. For more than a decade, the Houston band have spurred prevailing trends in both the metal scene and the American South. Instead of adhering to conventional wisdom or slapping a new coat of paint on the same old ideas, they’ve remade the Southern Gothic in their own progressive image, casting tales of hope and despair against an ever-shifting backdrop of melodic death, doom and black metal.
While they’ve always been stars in their own right, Oceans of Slumber’s upcoming sixth album expands the band’s wide-ranging vision to the dark, cinematic heights of a Hollywood blockbuster. Where Gods Fear to Speak is in conversation with The Handmaid’s Tale and Cormac McCarthy more than it is Opeth. Their new single “The Given Dream” gives hope to the future of metal by breaking the spell that’s lorded over us by the powers that be.
Listen to The Given Dream:
“The Given Dream” awakens with a familiar sense of dread. A dark, ominous synth blares over the speakers with the creeping suspense of an IMAX movie.
“We were watching a lot of dystopian sci-fi films and TV shows”, Dobber Beverly says about the inspiration behind Where Gods Fear to Speak. The underground will always recognize Dobber as the drummer for grindcore legends Insect Warfare, but he’s also a classically training pianist who composed every note on the album. “I had just bought a Le Gibet synthesizer” he continues. “Hearing the big stabbing synth lines that are in a lot of those soundtracks gave me the idea to open ‘The Given Dream’ as if an alarm was going off in the listener’s head”.
