Oceans Of Slumber__
Texan prog metal pioneers battle the elements and line-up changes to bring us their self-titled fourth album.
On the evening of August 25, 2017, America braced as Hurricane Harvey made US landfall in Texas. The storm had spent several days intensifying over the Caribbean Sea, and by the time it reached the state coastline at 11pm, it had whipped itself up into a Category 4 behemoth with wind speeds of 130mph, the first hurricane to make landfall since Wilma 12 years before.
Oceans Of Slumber, who were recording their third album, 2018’s The Banished Heart, in Houston, watched in horror as the storm ravaged their home city, leaving mass destruction and flooding in its wake. “[Our] house took on four feet of water,” remembers vocalist Cammie Gilbert of the home she had shared with drummer and partner, Dobber Beverley. “It made things very difficult regarding the recording process and morale.”
The sessions were put on hold while the band picked up the pieces, ultimately delaying the release of the album. But, as Gilbert explains, the stress of the situation further exposed an already fractured internal dynamic. Tensions that had been forming since the band had started to debut a more progressive sound on 2016 album Winter were now boiling over.
“It was literal and figurative. When the real hurricane hit so did the emotional hurricane between us,” Gilbert recalls. “It wasn’t meshing. There wasn’t an enthusiasm for the direction we wanted to go in. But each album was always going to evolve. We can’t just write crazy, sporadic, super-techy stuff and still think we can host these melodic lines.”
In November 2018, founding guitarists Sean Gary and Anthony Contreras announced their departure, followed three months later by bassist Keegan Kelly. Over the next few months, new bandmates Jessie Santos and Alexander Lucian, plus bassist Semir Özerkan, were welcomed into the fold. Gilbert insists the seismic shake-up was needed to ensure the band’s survival. “They’ve brought such a life, enthusiasm and excitement to the project. It feels so much healthier and more cohesive than it felt before.”
Despite its setbacks, The Banished Heart was a triumph; a grandiose statement of dark majesty and enthralling fragility that