New track from The Gates of Slumber up.

http://www.myspace.com/thegatesofslumber



[quote="Press release"]
Critically acclaimed “True Heavy Metal” band THE GATES OF SLUMBER has completed work on its new studio album Hymns of Blood & Thunder. The album is slated to drop in North America on September 29, 2009 via Rise Above Records.

Recorded in Chicago’s Semaphore Studios with producer Sanford Parker (Pelican, etc.), THE GATES OF SLUMBER unleashes its holy grail in the formidable Hymns of Blood & Thunder. A mighty document of both powerful songwriting and instrumental skull-crushing, the album is heavy and chillingly bleak; in an almost unrelenting way that hasn't been heard since Judas Priest's heyday (Sad Wings of Destiny, Sin After Sin, etc.). Displaying a powerful focus and direction and demonstrating a very compelling emotional range, THE GATES OF SLUMBER have upped its levels of both technique and melody, resulting in an album that is at once frighteningly dark in its effect, tight in its grooves and unrivaled in its sheer power.

A taste of what Hymns of Blood & Thunder holds in store can be heard now as the new GATES OF SLUMBER song “The Bringer of War” premieres today via Decibel Magazine. The album’s merciless, Frazetta-esque cover artwork can also be viewed at the landing page. Check out all the action now at this location.

Hymns of Blood & Thunder drops on the heels of the brightest and busiest year in the respected power trio’s history; one that saw THE GATES OF SLUMBER pack clubs during its first U.S. headlining tour and land atop many year-end media polls with Conqueror, an album that was hailed as “a breath of fresh air within the doom / true metal underground.” The record placed at the #5 position in Decibel’s "Top 40 Albums of 2008" and made Village Voice Media’s "Top 10 Metal Albums of 2008", joining an impressive list of some of the genre’s finest including AC/DC, Judas Priest and Metallica.

THE GATES OF SLUMBER encapsulates the metal experience for true believers. Weaned on Black Sabbath, St. Vitus, the melodic might of Iron Maiden and a host of classic bands from Thin Lizzy to Rainbow to Mercyful Fate, THE GATES OF SLUMBER draws deep from heavy metal's most powerful blood and delivers doom metal in its purest form. Like it or not, heavy metal is here, there and everywhere and THE GATES OF SLUMBER scores a head banger's bull's-eye with Hymns of Blood & Thunder.

The final track listing for Hymns of Blood & Thunder is as follows:

1.) Chaos Calling
2.) Death Dealer
3.) Beneath the Eyes of Mars
4.) The Doom of Aceldama
5.) Age of Sorrow
6.) The Bringer of War
7.) Descent Into Madness
8.) Iron Hammer
9.) The Mist in the Mourning
10.) Blood and Thunder

THE GATES OF SLUMBER features guitarist / vocalist Karl Simon, bassist Jason McCash and drummer “Iron” Bob Fouts.

* Check out THE GATES OF SLUMBER’s “Trapped in the Web” video on MTV’s “Headbangers Blog” now at this location.

“huge riffs, demonic growls and sword-sharp solos…these battle-ready warriors hail from the hellish outlands” – SPIN

"Musically, GATES OF SLUMBER are tapping into a St. Vitus, Black Sabbath, Pentagram-style doom sound...a certified crap-free oeuvre” – PITCHFORK


"Fervently old-fashioned doom, THE GATES OF SLUMBER know exactly how a heavy album should sound. Euphorically gargantuan"- DECIBEL

“Easily one of the best doom/heavy metal albums of 2008, "Conqueror" is the sound of a band peaking. It doesn't get much better.” – BLABBERMOUTH

“These guys play a classicist, fantasy-minded blend of doom metal and biker rock; their album cover depicts Conan holding a sword in one hand and a severed head in the other, and looks like it could have come straight off the side of a custom Chevy van. The riffs are thunderous, the vocals raw-throated and powerful, and the songs epic." - LA WEEKLY

“ripping doom…awesome” – BROOKLYN VEGAN

"Just as it eclipses the limiting "doom-metal" tag by emphasizing structural dynamics and occasionally playing fast, the group transcends conventional thematic trappings by focusing on the primary inspiration of countless mystical creations: author Robert E. Howard...excellent" - THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE


THE GATES OF SLUMBER tour dates as part of the
“NORTH AMERICA IS DOOMED” tour:

Presented by ACTION! PR, DECIBEL Magazine and METALSUCKS.net

(all dates also feature ZOROASTER and SERPENTCULT)

August 11 Pittsburgh, PA Howler’s Café
August 12 Cleveland, OH Peabody’s
August 13 Columbus, OH Ravari Room
August 14 Indianapolis, IN Emerson Theatre

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