Hey hey, everybody.

So, I don't know if anyone remembers my Monday Music Medleys, but I'm considering starting them up again sometime in July seeing as I'll have nothing but free time by then. 

For now, I'm thinking I might just do irregular music posts where I spotlight an underrated/under appreciated/or fledgling musical group or artist so that new sets of ears can hear the good word. 

In the interest of that, today I'm introducing you to a doom metal band from right here in the Lone Star state (Houston to be exact). Oceans of Slumber is a rarity in the heavy metal genre and the doom metal genre in particular for a number of reasons. To get the obvious out of the way, there aren't many metal bands fronted by Black female vocalists. For a slightly less obvious distinction, note that clean female vocals aren't incredibly common in doom metal, which is a genre typically known for gutturals and dominated more by the hypnotic, crunching guitar riffs and basslines (which are definitely on display here as well) than by the vocals. 

But one more thing distinguishes Oceans of Slumber and their frontwoman, Cammie Gilbert, is that unlike most female metal vocalists who typically sing in the soprano range, Gilbert tends to drop into lower ranges, and I think that lower, smokier quality of her vocals is what draws me to the band's sound, and what makes those moments where she does bust out the high note pipes all the more impressive. 

I saw them live in Florida last year when they opened for Insomnium, which is how I came to know them, and I was blown away. Maybe you'll appreciate them too. Check out my favorite song of theirs, "The Decay of Disregard."