Hope Action Change
Texan prog metal powerhouse Oceans Of Slumber have survived hurricanes and a radical line-up change to find redemption with their self-titled fourth LP. Singer Cammie Gilbert tells Prog how she confronted prejudice head-on on the six-piece’s most challenging album yet.
Words: Dannii Leivers Portrait: Taylee Photography
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.
Cammie Gilbert has channelled her rage into Oceans Of Slumber’s new album.
“The noose is so strong and so iconic in the black community. You don’t see it and think Halloween or the medieval ages. You see it and you just think of Southern lynchings.”
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.”