| CD REVIEW Emergency Gate |
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Band : Emergency Gate When I gave the new album by this German act its first listen, I honestly though it was another band than the one I’d reviewed the debut album Nightly Ray from (review posted 18/07/2006, which is where you can find all relevant data on the band til then). After checking the logo…which was the same…I decided to delve into the actual facts which had changed this septet from a thrashing outfit to a more In Flames/ Soilwork Swedish-style Melodic Death Metal act! Luckily, the bio I got with the promo provided exactly those informations, and I am more than glad to give ‘em to you here! Following the release of their album in May of 2006, the band’s label The Electric Co helped ‘em onto a couple of festivals (and gigs) during Summer, and then a tour (from mid April and early May 2007) with Mercenary. Towards the end of 2007 however, the label lost their distribution deal with Universal, and therfore the band was “released from its contractual obligations”. Fancy twist to saying “You’re dropped!”! And when soon after co-founding member Fabian Kiessling because of private matters, the future of the band was momentarily uncertain! But the remaining musicians didn’t feel like throwing in the towel yet, got their heads together, and decided to explore some new musical horizons which they had been prevented from doing when Kiessling was still in he band! In the period which followed, guitarist Vlad Doose would show himself the main composer, bringing up new ideas like a madman. Together with that other remaining founding member, bassist Mario Lochert, the pieces were properly arranged, and eventually the band booked time at Munchen’s Dreamscape Studios to record the new material…without a singer! However, towards the end of the instrumental recordings the band had the outrageous luck to meet up with former Suidakra singer Matthias Kupka, and a good friendship was soon the foundation for the vocal recordings in March of 2008. And now, I ain’t sure when this other change in the line-up happened, because in order to maintain their great double guitar attack, the band now also comprises second guitarist Udo Simon. In that period the band got themselves endorsements with Agner drum sticks and Scheckter guitars. The guys also put upsome studio video footage for the fans to follow the band’s progress in the studio, at the same time giving ‘em the opportunity to check out the new direction of the band’s music. The production was eventually finished in July, and after sending the album out to some labels, the band soon opted to sing with Silverwolf Productions for the physical release of the album. Only two months later the band (or the label, I’m not sure) had already secured a spot as support for the European tour Kreator, Caliban, and Eluveitie will be undertaking from late January (starting on the 23rd) to mid March. Waiting around during the rest of 2008 for their album to come out, the guys earned themselves some additional endorsements (Paiste cymbals, Staufer Guitar Repair Shop, Hartke Bassamp, and Engl – I ain’t sure what the latter stands for, though), and worked on the album cover and other artwork! When listening to the album you’ll find out that the band still has a penchant for the inclusion of some calmer songs in the form of the obligatory ballads (in casu, the 7:15 “Remains” – quite lengthy, starting off with simple piano and cello keyboard with some sparce acoustic guitar coming in as well, and electric guitars coming in for a more energetic second part of the track starting 4:11 – and short – 1:40 – album closer “Lullaby”, which has only soft acoustic guitars played in ‘em), or the nice acoustic instrumental (and “Unbeing” IS beautiful, in spite of its somewhat threathening title)…and there’s moments where the former Thrash leanings of the band come through a bit more cleary than on others, but overall, and not in the least through Kupka’s vocals, there is now a typical keyboard-laden Melodic Death Metal remeniscence of the Swedish style! Occasionally, you’ll get some wacky synths played in intros of songs (check “Gold & Glass”, “The Purpose”, and “Elementor” specifically, the latter also containing a considerable amount of newscast samples – véry nicely done, by the way…and it earns the band an extra point in the rating!), and more than often Kupka gets some very nice vocal backings. Varied too, depending on the mode of the lead (whom might sing in his screamed style or with a “normal” hoarse one) and on the needs of the song at hand, they may either be contrasting or supplementing (check “The Purpose” and “Life V 2.0” for best examples of great triple vocal approach). In spite of easily recognizable rhythm guitar work, the nice lead play, the keyboards, ànd the varied vocal stylings, there’s somewhat of a “bore factor” when you’re listening to the album a couple of times in a row, as you get the impression you’ve heard it all before…so many times! Or so at least some of the reviews I’ve already read will tell you! Don’t let that kind of unfounded criticism dumbfound you, though! At the end of the day, it’s what yoù liike and gó for, which counts! By all means check that out for yourselves, either by having a listening session of the album at your local record store when the album hits the streets, or by surfing to myspace.com/emergencygateonline, where you’ll find an mp3-file for the track “Gold & Glass”, and a trailer of the whole album to get acquainted with the new direction of the band (to compare, surf also to the “music” page of the band’s own website emergency-gate.de to find music off both the official 2006 debut ànd the band’s self-titled 2000 promo-CD). 88/100 Tony. |