A killer, right out of the gate
Artiste: The Gate
Nationality: German
Album: Earth cathedral
Year: 2011
Label: Rock it up
Genre: Heavy Metal
Tracks:
Into the gate
Shout for metal
Face your fear (The money song)
Guy anvil
1000 miles away
Mountains
Hiding where the wolf lives
Into the pit
Deliver from sin
Earth cathedral
Chronological position: Debut album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Power, melody, bit of proggy keys: like it
Best track(s): Face your fear (The money song), Guy anvil, Mountains, Into the pit, Earth cathedral
Worst track(s): Nothing
Comments: I first featured a track from this on the second “Devil's Ballroom” some time ago, but have not really listened to the album all the way through. With all the black and death metal I've been getting hit with in “The Meat Grinder” (see my main journal) lately, it'll be nice to experience more of what I would term “proper” metal, which is not in any way to denigrate black or speed or thrash or any other sort of metal, just that this is the sort I prefer. There's a doomy, atmospheric, almost progressive instrumental to open the album, then it's heads down and no-holds-barred as we get into it, with churning, angry guitars and thundering drums, vocalist Guido Kramer giving me a scare for a second when I fear he's a proponent of “death vocals”, but it's just a bump and though his voice is raw and ragged and growly, you can clearly hear what he's singing, and I'd put him more in the style of Danny Joe Brown from Molly Hatchet really; a deep, bassy roar that is still completely intelligible.
The music rocks along nicely with a great sense of power but also of fun, again almost southern rock mixed with the best elements of metal, though when the second song is called
Shout for metal I did cringe, expecting something of comic poseurism, but nothing could be further from the truth, and then
Face your fear (The money song) throws a curveball by starting off like one of those “cowboy ballads” made popular by Poison and Bon Jovi, then kicking into a headbanger that rockets along like, er, a rocket, pounding you into submission with some real thrash influences yet retaining a real sense of melody. Not too sure what
Guy anvil is about, but it has a lovely little laidback guitar section about halfway through, with things slowing down with a real grinder in
1000 miles away, where the guys obviously pay tribute to Metallica. And Sabbath.
This album seldom lets up, taking you on a rollercoaster ride and spitting you out at the end, exhausted but satisfied.
Hiding where the wolf lives and
Deliver from sin are both breakneck rockers, while the title track has a lot of progressive elements in it and wraps the album up nicely. Think we'll all be hearing a lot more from these guys in the future!
Overall impression: Fine album, fine debut. Great metal record.
Intention: Can't do much really as this is their debut, released last year, but I'll be looking out for their next album.
(Note: this video would not work for me in Firefox; could just be me, but if it fails for you too, try Internet Explorer. It seems to work with that.)