"Starlight And Ash": Oceans Of Slumber's new studio album

For their fifth album, Oceans Of Slumber have traded progressive death metal suites for episodic, eclectic anthems.

    Stick on Oceans Of Slumber’s new album, Starlight And Ash, and you’ll find 11 songs, which are clear and powerful. They’re the vocal equivalent of sinking yourself into a hot bubble bath, or enjoying a relaxing massage. This is what th egroup's vocalist Cammie Beverly can do.

    From opener The Waters Rising, the listener is ensnared. The ballad begins with Cammie crooning over keys and simple percussion. However, it escalates to barrelling drum smacks and shouts that, though authoritative, do nothing to dampen the beauty of the singer’s voice. Follow-up Hearts Of Stone casts her on top of bubbling synths, while Salvation incorporates a blues twang into their canon.

Cammie’s vocals have always been one of Oceans’ prime USPs. This is in spite of the band, up until now, penning twisted progressive metal giants, comparable in scope to Opeth. In stark contrast, Starlight... has what Cammie calls “singer-songwriter vibes”: its tracks are episodic and direct, progressive in their eclecticism rather than in grandeur. It was a switch driven by the band’s drummer and creative leader, as well as Cammie’s husband, Dobber Beverly.

Every track contributes something new to Starlight..., from the heavy metal bang of Star Altar to the string-powered folk rock cover of House Of The Rising Sun. However, according to Cammie, the heart of the album is its third song: the country-tinged and exclusively acoustic The Lighthouse.

She explains: “On The Lighthouse, I create my own religion. [In the song] the people of this town have a cult and a spiritual leaning towards worshipping this lighthouse. They’re like, ‘If we maintain the lighthouse — if we sacrifice all our blood, sweat and tears and keep it pristine - then that light cast over the ocean will make sure our sailors come home? As the listener, you know that that’s not how that works. Between storms and ships, there are so many variables that go into that. It’s a play on the asinine qualities that I see in religious people.”

    Cammie has every right to be pissed off at religion. After all, she’s a Black woman living in Texas, where conservative Christians frequently use faith as an excuse to justify bigoted politics. The state governor is Greg Abbott: a white, cishet, Catholic, male Republican who’s openly anti-abortion and fought to prohibit same-sex marriage. 

    Cammie’s struggles with religion extend even beyond that backdrop, though. The singer was born on October 8, 1987. At the time, both of her parents were part of a religious organisation called the Institute Of Divine Metaphysical Research. Her dad — a musician with a long history of drug use — had been the choir director of the sect since the 1970s, when he met a member at a party and was enraptured by what they had to say. Her mum would attend gatherings until Cammie was eight years old; at that point, she defected and became a Jehovah’s Witness.

    It was a strict upbringing. Cammie wasn’t allowed to go to birthday or Christmas parties. Any film she wanted to watch or album she wanted to listen to had to be “screened”, with her parents disallowing anything taboo. It wasn’t until she turned 15 that life became less rigid — her dad was diagnosed with leukemia, and the disease would take his life in 2014. 

    It was through this that she discovered music, sneaking off to go to Korn and Slipknot concerts. Soon after, she started making songs herself. Before Oceans Of Slumber, Cammie was the lead singer of a post-rock outfit called Miles To Glory. Their rehearsal space was next door to that of the singer’s future band, who at the time were fronted by Ronnie Gates. 

    With Starlight And Ash introducing an entirely new musical era for the band, Cammie says that she wants the album “to solidify that we’re making our own space. We’re not trying to fit into any defined genre.”

    She declares: “All we’re worried about is making good songs and good music that impacts people. How many artists are making music that just doesn’t sound like anything else? I feel like people stop trying. Look at Nick Cave. What is Nick Cave? He could tour with no one but himself, and that’s what we want.”