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”.
https://youtu.be/PtJQpDt1D-k?si=3XblEjcnjHlnOSDs
Where Gods Fear to Speak comes out September 13 on Season of Mist.
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https://orcd.co/oceansofslumberwheregodsfeartospeakalbum
“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”.
On the album’s first official single, Oceans of Slumber zoomed in on the doomed romance that’s at the center of Where Gods Fear to Speak. While it immediately follows “Poem of Ecstasy” on the track list, “The Given Dream” pans out to the big picture themes that were teased by its title track. “The cold and bitter taste / The wall in front of you / The stone with all your hopes”, sings the band’s leading lady Cammie Beverly, reaching down into the smoky pit of her soul.
“We’re pre-programmed with this dream of how our lives are supposed to turn out”, Dobber says. “The white picket fence. A career at the tech company down the road. Two and a half kids to go along with the ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ poster on your wall”.
“Buying into that idea will make you feel like you’re on the right track”, says Cammie. “When really, we’re just blinded. That dream doesn’t exist”.
The faraway glimmer of the song’s gorgeous piano melody is one of the most intoxicating lines on Where Gods Fear to Speak. “If you’re lucky enough to come from a higher standing, then maybe you do get to live out that fantasy”, Dobber says. He’s not blasting “The Given Dream” — at least, not on his kit. The song is afforded one of the sparest, most streamlined arrangements on the album. A thumping back beat sets a workmanlike pace, but the syncopated snare crumbles like hope through your fingers amidst a glitch of digital effects. “But if you’ve got to struggle, then it’s a lot harder just to survive”.
“You stare and you stare” Cammie belts, steeling herself between each word before she bangs her head back against the proverbial wall. Cammie has always possessed one of the strongest voices in metal, but on “The Given Dream”, it sounds like she’s fighting for air. “It’s still empty”.
In reality, Cammie did have to catch her breath in order to nail down “The Given Dream”. Oceans of Slumber recorded Where Gods Fear to Speak in Bogotá, Colombia, which is a cool 8,000 feet above sea level. “‘This is one of the most tiring songs to sing on the album”, she explains. “I’m belting from the beginning”. When the bottom finally does drop out and the song sinks into a bridge that’s as quiet and full of shadows as the ocean floor, it only seems like she’s taking a breather. “Going from a belt to soprano back to a belt is not a break” she says with a knowing smile. “Singing soprano takes more breath than singing mid-range or alto. You have to hold your vocal cords tight”.
Just like the myth of suburbia, the music industry doesn’t always live up to its own hype. Heck, even a genre that’s as hellbent on setting fire to the status quo as extreme metal is no angel when it comes to favoring style over substance. With six albums and a decade of touring under their belt, Oceans of Slumber have nothing left that they need to prove, but the band’s unwavering authenticity continues to set them apart. All ten songs on Where Gods Fear to Speak were tracked live with GRAMMY-nominated producer Joel Hamilton. Even the digital drum loops on “The Given Dream” were hammered out by hand.
“I played those loops myself in real time, all one take” Dobber says. “I actually like Portishead, Sneaker Pimps and all those other trip-hop bands from the ’90s. With this song, I wanted to remake that dub style with a big heavy part at the end”.
If their haunting reflection on “Wicked Game” is the chilling end credits to Where Gods Fear to Speak, then “The Given Dream” is one of its many climactic turning points. When the riffs finally come crashing down during the song’s grand finale, it’s with all the gloom and doom of a raging tempest. “I return to the dust I’ve known / The circle, the sky / The earth I’ve called home”, Cammie sings with all her might. With this much force, Oceans of Slumber sound like they’re ready to tear down the walls and show us into the light.
