Bands often release misunderstood albums, and I’m afraid that’s especially true for Oceans of Slumber. The band doesn’t stay still within a single, concrete style from album to album, and I know that angers the labels and sometimes knocks fans for a loop, but it’s one of many reasons I love the band. Their new album is called Where Gods Fear to Speak, and it releases on September 13th through Season of Mist.
Oceans of Slumber hails from Houston, TX. Since bringing on vocalist Cammie Beverly with 2016’s Winter, the band has evolved and changed. Each album is significantly different. With 2022’s masterpiece Starlight and Ash, the band chose a more melodic, gothic metal approach, and I’ve seen nothing by rave reviews. Yet, it didn’t line up with the label’s vision for them, so a break in their relationship ripped wide open. They released an album that the label misunderstood.
Fast forward to 2024, and the band is obviously pissed and yet clear-headed. Signing with Season of Mist and including the lineup of Cammie Beverly on vocals, Dobber Beverly on drums and piano, Semir Ozerkan on bass, Chris Jones on guitar, and Chris Kritikos on guitar and synth; the band travelled to Bogotá, Columbia to create their most complicated album yet. Honestly, it is also their most difficult to process and “get into”. It is another album that I fear will be misunderstood, and I think fans that only just discovered them in 2022 will completely pale at what they will experience on this album.
The band roars to life with a blend of heavier styles. I hear doom, gothic, death, black, and progressive metal swirling like madness within this record. In some ways, it feels like Swallow the Sun, Dark Tranquility, and Type O Negative had a baby with the band’s own soulful, haunted, and cinematic character. It is heavy. It is macabre. It is massive. It is provocative.
I want to emphasize those ideas some more. This is a complex beast of an album. It feels like being dropped into a raging ocean without a life preserver. It is an album of stormy seas and violent winds. It feels like a furious dystopian ritual, wrapped in chains and pleading with the dark skies in the deepest, blackest soul it can muster. There is plenty of harsh vox of all shades and tones; even Cammie lays down some growls. Yet, even amid the deathly chaos, there are songs and segments of the more peaceable Oceans of Slumber. The band hasn’t lost their melody or soulfulness.
The album has ten songs, and I’ll openly admit the second half is my favorite. The heaviest music is in the first half, and it can be a little unnerving. It’s certainly the most difficult part to process. The album opens with the visceral title track, which I love. It has undeniable groove and angst, and I love how Cammie’s huge vocal melodies contrast with the harsh vox. “Run From the Light” comes next and is a fomenting piece with shouty harsh vox and also some of Cammie’s best clean vocals on the album. I love the passion in that song. “Don’t Come Back from Hell Empty-Handed” follows and is the start of the cinematic tone, I think. It is heavy, yes, but synth and some delicate piano portions make it feel more dynamic and mysterious.
The first half ends with two amazing songs. “Wish” is one of my favorites; it almost feels like it could have been on the last album. Cammie emotes with class and soul, and the chorus is an absolute monster. I love it so much. “Poem of Ecstasy”, one of the singles, comes next, and it is a heavier song that flirts with the balladic style. It feels very personal and emotional. Those two songs seem to encapsulate everything I love about Oceans of Slumber.
But you know what? The album only gets better from there. “The Given Dream” feels like shadowy, gothic goodness, full of mist and magick. I love it so much. Then “I Will Break the Pride of Your Will” arrives, and I think it might be one of the best songs they’ve ever made. The keyboard melody and the driving piano backdrop feel cinematic and confident. I love the musical space in this song, as it trades between compelling heavy portions and atmospheric, lumbering gold. “Prayer” follows and features Mikael Stanne of Dark Tranquility as a guest. It is really good, and launches into amazing when Mikael starts laying down his signature raspy vox and the haunting harmonies rise. Chillingly good.
The last two songs are fantastic. I LOVE “The Impermanence of Fate”. It transitions between slower, weighty emotions and vicious death metal at first, but the last half is pure Oceans of Slumber gravy that’ll give you a seriously cinematic high. The album ends with grit and despair in their cover of “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak. I’ll be honest, I like it much better than the original. I love Cammie’s performance on it, but I also like the subtle backing vocals that give me goosebumps.
Remember back in the day when you’d buy an album and actually need to put effort into processing and appreciating it? You know, before the easy streaming age. Where Gods Fear to Speak is an album that will require effort on the listener’s part. Oceans of Slumber have produced a vividly angry, beautifully dark record that contains all the elements of their sound, only blended and stretched into a tapestry of blackened spirits and provocative rebellion. It will confront your will. It will expand your mind. It will pull at your heart. I hope fans and new listeners alike will take the time.
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Find Oceans of Slumber online:
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The PROG Mind 