Full Moon Fever – Second single from the upcoming sixth album by The Gates of Slumber out today
Indiana’s doom metal behemoths The Gates of Slumber return with a new album out on November 29th via Svart Records. The upcoming, self-titled album is the band’s first full length offering in thirteen years. Full Moon Fever is the second single from the album, perfectly timed for the Halloween season. Listen to it here: https://orcd.co/fullmoonfever
”If my memory serves me right, Full Moon Fever was the first song for the new album. The music was written around about when Tom Petty died. And yes, the song is dedicated to him. Not inspired by his music per se, but I was always a big Petty fan and yeah. Figure it out on your own time… The first set of lyrics I did for the song had more of a comical feel to them. More of a Motörhead treatment. A werewolf chasing cars and shit like that. But that’s not the feel I wanted for the song in the end. The band was always meant to be a serious band. But I would be denying the truth if I said that it didn’t have a lot of tongue in cheek. And that wasn’t what we wanted to do with it at all. Part of the fun is playing it straight. So, I reworked the lyrics a few weeks before we actually recorded the album. I have to pat myself on the back. I think the break down is one of the best bits I ever came up with.”, comments Karl Simon on the new single.
The Gates of Slumber was formed by Karl Simon in 1998. Various people were in and out of the group between 1998 and 2001, when the Blood Encrusted Deth Axe demo was recorded with Jamie Walters aka Dr. Phibes/Athenar (Boulder, Midnight) on drums and bass. In 2003 Jason McCash took over the bass duties and was a long-time member of the band until his untimely demise in 2014, after which Simon decided it was time to call it quits. That was until 2019 when the renowned metal festival Hell Over Hammaburg wanted to bring the band back on stage to perform at the festival’s 2020 edition. Simon reformed the band with its original member Chuck Brown on drums and Steve Janiak on bass and got back to work. “We’d been asked several times to play Hell Over Hammaburg. But there was no “we” to play. The germ of the idea started. We started re-learning songs from the first LP. It wasn’t too long into the rehearsals that we started coming up with new songs.”, states Simon.
After a reunion tour was finished, COVID kicked in to slow down the process. Half of the album was already written but the remaining half took its time, and the songs were left to stew in their juices. With bastard heavy songs honoring the Doom Metal greats Saint Vitus and Penance, straight forward bangers, lyrics inspired by the Black Death and John Carpenter’sThe Fog, The Gates of Slumber is a truly crushing album and a must listen to any Doom Metal fanatic.
Having toured with Pentagram, Reverend Bizarre, Cathedral, Slough Feg, Earthride, and Weedeater in addition to getting a praise from Decibel Magazine “The Gates of Slumber have quietly gone about the business of becoming one of the best heavy metal bands in the world.”, it’s safe to say The Gates of Slumber play some of the heaviest metal on this planet.
The Gates of Slumber is available on Svart exclusive black/white marble vinyl, limited transparent blue vinyl, black vinyl, CD, and digital platforms on November 29th, 2024.
25.10. The Gates of Slumber – Full Moon Fever (Digital)
29.11. The Gates of Slumber – The Gates of Slumber (LP/CD Pre-Order)
https://www.svartrecords.com/en/product/the-gates-of-slumber-the-gates-of-slumber/12760
29.11. The Gates of Slumber – The Gates of Slumber (Digital Album Pre-Save)
https://orcd.co/thegatesofslumber