The Gates of Slumber: The Videos

Bands should control their visual identities. This is no small deal. Listeners judge albums based on their covers even before hearing a note. For touring bands, t-shirts are the only real sources of revenue. Visuals matter. KISS and Iron Maiden wouldn’t be half as successful if it weren’t for their visual appeal.

Managing visual identity is more important than ever in this age of YouTube. Fan-filmed videos surface mere hours after shows. If a fan posts a song on YouTube early enough, typically with an image of album artwork, and that link gains enough traction, it can attract far more hits than the song’s actual video. Bands should heed their visual presentations, or else their fans will do it for them.

Neglecting visual identity is one thing; actively sabotaging it is another. That’s curiously the case with The Gates of Slumber. I’ve become more of a fan of the band since I saw it play several months ago. (Assessment: average heavy metal band but a mind-blowing doom band, with mostly the rhythm section to credit) Its album covers are coherent; the last three have featured Frazetta-style muscles-and-swords artwork. But the band has unleashed a torrent of videos that’s confused the hell out of me (and probably others as well). New Gates of Slumber videos emerge seemingly weekly – and they’re all awful.

I finally figured out what’s going on. Someone within or close to the band really loves classic films and editing video. That person is editing together clips from classic films and calling them Gates of Slumber videos. But a bunch of clips from films, no matter how great they are, does not a band video make. For starters, there’s this thing called copyright. Also, a song’s video should have something to do with what it’s about. I trawled through the muck of Gates of Slumber “videos” to see which were actually legit. This is what I found.

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VIDEOS: OFFICIAL

As far as I can tell, The Gates of Slumber have made two official videos. They are for “Ice Worm” and Trapped in the Web”, from 2008’s Conqueror (reviewed here). The “Ice Worm” video is of the band playing and hanging out at Germany’s Keep It True festival. That’s not much of a plot, but it’s a step up from stealing bits from old movies. “Trapped in the Web”, on the other hand, is an actual, professional video. It’s just a performance with dramatic lighting, but a little yields a lot.

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“Ice Worm”

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“Trapped in the Web”

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VIDEOS: DUBIOUS

The Gates of Slumber have made two videos that I call “dubious”. This is because they’re collages of classic films, but with occasional attempts to show the band. The first is of “Angel of Death”, from 2006’s Suffer No Guilt. The second is of one of my favorite Gates of Slumber songs, “Death Dealer”, from last year’s Hymns of Blood and Thunder (reviewed here).

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“Angel of Death”

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“Death Dealer”

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VIDEOS: WTF

These are the ones that are just mashups of old movies. There might be even more out there, who knows.

Blood and Thunder
The Bringer of War
Dawn of Man
Gemini
Leaving
Mist in the Mourning
Slay the Weak
Stitched Back from Deth
Stitched Back from Deth Reborn
To Walk the Night
The Woe of Kings

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Thankfully The Gates of Slumber are musicians and not filmmakers. They just started a European tour supporting Cathedral. Below are the dates; the tour’s Facebook page, which has ticketing information, is here.

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SHIRT & POSTER GIVEAWAY

I’m giving away a Gates of Slumber baseball tee (size XL) and tour poster. For a chance to win, leave in the comments a link to your favorite so-bad-it’s-good metal video. (Also, please identify the song.) Only one entry/video per person. International entrants are welcome. I will choose a winner randomly. Giveaway closes at midnight EST this Friday, November 12.

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THE GATES OF SLUMBER – EU TOUR NOVEMBER 2010
w/ Cathedral

07 – Cologne – Underground (DE)
08 – Stuttgart – Die Rohre (DE)
09 – Vienna – Szene (AT)
11 – Pratteln – Z7 (CH)
12 – Munich – Backstage (DE)
13 – Pinarella di Cervia – Rock Planet (IT)
14 – Rome – Init Club (IT)
16 – La Ramier – Toulouse (FR)
17 – Madrid – Heineken (ES)
18 – Barcelona – Razzmatazz (ES)
19 – Belfort – Las Pouderie (FR)
20 – Paris – The Divan du Monde (FR)

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