Tracklist
- Destined to Remember
- Never Like This (A Dream)
- Hear My Call!
- Airways
- Revolution Come Undone
- Breach of Faith
- Mindlessness
- Horizons
- A Dream within A Dream
- Erasure
Release Date 15 April 2014 – Nightmare Records
Melodies, leads, hooks, vocal harmonies, songwriting. Have you ever wondered if out there exists a band which can combine all these characteristics? Well, you can put that research behind you, since Denmark has kindly provided us with an answer…Ladies and Gentlemen, Anubis Gate! I don’t know how the heck this band managed to get over my music radar for so long since they have been active for more than a decade. Anyway, here they are. A Danish band which plays progressive metal aggressively, with humility and talent. Even though they are HUGE players, they put their talent to the service of Songwriting.
Listening to the album (“Horizons”) I was able to discover a new galaxy of inspirational music. Even though the band has experienced various changes in the line up throughout their 10 years of existence, they managed to keep an inimitable level of musicianship. Their main characteristics are expressive, unmistakable melodies from the screaming guitars in grasping your neck and not letting you relax even for a moment, but also changes in the rhythms that are both imaginative and unpredictable that you think you are in a parallel universe where Dream Theater never fell victim of their own musical trends and continued to produce adventurous music! At the highest level, also, the Yes-like voice harmonies, capable of providing a serious case of goose bumps, with inspiring interpretations traveling hand in hand with the wonderful and soulful lyrics. Everything in the proper dose, without a trace of arrogance and elitism , with each note that makes you look forward to the next.
By starting the record we encounter the first triple blast, “Destined To Remember”, “Never Like This (A Dream)” and “Hear My Call”, from which I’m still trying to recover. Beautifully arranged, they could easily be part of a three-piece suite. “Airways” creates a combination of musical landscapes with a fluidity of structure hard to find elsewhere nowadays. Sublime. With the starting riff of “Revolution Come Undone” I am already part of their tortuous journey and not really caring to go back. “Breach Of Faith” has a chorus hard to forget, but It’s not just the chorus. It’s the culmination of an anthemic labyrinth. Worth listening to, again and again and again. “Mindlessness” (what a song title!) and “Horizons” are multi-coloured paintings that fit perfectly with what is an extraordinary album.
And then…. Then comes “Dream Within A Dream”. A Journey into the Dream, a Dream straight to the Journey in which Anubis Gate, as a brand new Theseus, unfold the secrets of the composition like a new Ariadne’s thread , with an excess of mastery and the confidence of a winner! The album finishes with “Erasure”, a track that evokes various emotions and memories that everyone can relate to. Stunning finish.
I could write for hours about this album, but I do not want to over-analyze it, for there is likely to lose some the magic it beholds, so I stop here. It’s not an album strictly for the progressive fans…It’s for everyone who loves MUSIC! Last year was particularly successful for the progressive music and such albums like this make me think that 2014 can follow the tendency of its predecessor. Listen and believe!
9,5/10
Review by Anarchy Divine