CAMMIE GILBERT Vocals, Lyricist DOBBER BEVERLY Drums .

. SEAN GARY ANTHONY CONTRERAS KEEGAN KELL .

Rhythm Guitar & ANTHONY CONTRERAS KEEGAN KELLY .
Vocals Lead Guitar Bass

UAEB YELSAEB Keyboards .

A darker, heavier and more elaborate work than Winter, the band’s critically-acclaimed 2015
album, The Banished Heart portrays Oceans Of Slumber as creative souls in the midst of a
creative and emotional splurge, lost in the act of venting and purging through some of the
deepest and darkest music the metal underground has conjured in years. Although still proudly
channelling the melancholy spirit of the late ‘80s/early ‘90s UK death/doom scene, Oceans have
evolved and expanded in myriad new directions, embracing a more grandiose aesthetic in tandem
with an enhanced sense of emotional volatility and rawness. Epic by design and in execution, but
acutely personal and intimate on a conceptual level, the songs on The Banished Heart showcase a
refined musical vision from a band with nothing but honesty and honour in their souls.

“The album travels through concepts of neglect, death, absolute heartbreak, love and finding
peace,” Dobber explains. “The Banished Heart represents the return. The return of life or love
after a long exile, when everything seemed lost or hopeless. It all sparked from the birth of my
daughter. I relearned what true and unconditional love felt like. The Banished Heart is about
leaving the void and taking a long hard road to perdition.”

Recorded at Southwing Audio in Spring, TX, The Banished Heart was produced by Dobber himself
and tracked and mixed by long-time associates Craig Douglas and Chris Kritikos, with vocal
production by Mark Lopez and mastering by the legendary Alan Douches. Sonically huge and yet
exquisitely detailed, it’s an album full of both bold brush strokes and tiny, meticulous touches. As
diverse as it is cohesive, The Banished Heart hinges on the sublime chemistry fizzing between all
five members of the band: from Sean Gary’s wild, malevolent riffing and fellow six-stringer
Anthony Contreras’ walls of resonant atmospherics to bassist Keegan Kelly’s unbending low-end
backbone, it’s a dazzling ensemble performance that reaffirms Oceans Of Slumber’s mastery of
dark, skewed melody. Conveying deep, dark emotions, all beautifully and soulfully expressed by
Cammie Gilbert, it is an album of bewildering diversity: it flows seamlessly from flat-out extreme
metal savagery to the most elegant and delicate of piano interludes, remorselessly progressive,
stoically rooted in the slow-motion rush of doom metal and yet curiously accessible and blessed
with countless moments of fragile grace. From the title track’s majestic towers of orchestral
sorrow to the spellbinding but eviscerating melodrama of No Color, No Light (a devastating duet
between Cammie and Evergrey’s Tom S. Englund), The Banished Heart salutes the ageless spirit
of the album as a singular work of art: an immersive musical journey that demands commitment
but that promises untold rewards.

“The two opening tracks [The Decay Of Disregard and Fleeting Vigilance] are about misplaced
blame and angst, basic defence mechanisms for distraction or projection. At Dawn is about the
death of that and the uselessness of it, about letting the waters rush over you and take you away.
Etiolation and A Path To Broken Stars are about self-destructive behaviours and withering away
due to lack of self-love and maintenance. Howl Of The Rougarou and Her In The Distance are
observant love tales, one is a sinister sultry thing and the other is a heavy-hearted overseeing.
No Color… is about being found and being loved wholly. The final song on the record, Wayfaring,
was a way to tie the themes of the record into a different take on an old gospel song. Being that
we aren't a religious band, there are different connotations to what ‘going home’ is. It could mean
finding home. It could be laying in the earth. It could be finding peace and your place.”

Having weathered the most pernicious of personal storms, Oceans Of Slumber have regrouped
and focused their energies on creative endeavours. The result is an album that deserves to propel
the band to heavy music’s highest echelons: a work of art that tells us all we need to know about
this band’s unique magic and immense power. Only those with a beating but bruised human heart
need apply.

“We'd love to be heard by a wider audience and I know the audience for this kind of music exists
all over the globe, but they're hard to reach sometimes,” Dobber concludes. “We're hoping to
break on through and be able to bring this record to the stage, all over the world. Winter was
really well received and The Banished Heart is a few levels up for us. We’re optimistic but also
fearful. We stepped out of the comfort zone for this and went straight for a visceral and very
honest approach. It was art imitating life and life being fucking difficult and painful. Artists making
art is all we're trying to be.”