This is not only one of the best albums I have heard in the past year, but in the past few years.
I absolutely love this stuff.
It's a fantastic blend of two distinct styles:
1. The DT/SX/"true prog" fans will love the musicianship. It has the balls & chunk riffing along with some nice shredding. The interludes are nice and long with all sorts of time/tempo changes. The keys vary from the DT style that's in your face to the dreamy SX vibe from their earlier discs. Hell, there is even a bit of the Iron Maiden gallop during some of the soloing.
2. The dark Opeth/Amorphis atmopshere complete with acoustic bits, doomy keyboards, intertwined growls & a few female/choir type moments as well. The symphonic elements are well done as well.
The vocals are in the school of lower Barlow/clean Mikael with a bit of the rasp. You can really hear the passion in the delivery. I'm not saying that he is on par with either of the vocalists I mentioned, but that gives you an idea of what to expect instead of the higher octave type guys.
I urge you to go to their website and listen to the player in their media section. The specific songs there are a nice representation of the disc (specifically Kingdom II & Winter Flight).
Take a bow gentlemen. You've earned it.
www.gatesofwinter.com
Special thanks to zekeyou for the hook up.
I absolutely love this stuff.
It's a fantastic blend of two distinct styles:
1. The DT/SX/"true prog" fans will love the musicianship. It has the balls & chunk riffing along with some nice shredding. The interludes are nice and long with all sorts of time/tempo changes. The keys vary from the DT style that's in your face to the dreamy SX vibe from their earlier discs. Hell, there is even a bit of the Iron Maiden gallop during some of the soloing.
2. The dark Opeth/Amorphis atmopshere complete with acoustic bits, doomy keyboards, intertwined growls & a few female/choir type moments as well. The symphonic elements are well done as well.
The vocals are in the school of lower Barlow/clean Mikael with a bit of the rasp. You can really hear the passion in the delivery. I'm not saying that he is on par with either of the vocalists I mentioned, but that gives you an idea of what to expect instead of the higher octave type guys.
I urge you to go to their website and listen to the player in their media section. The specific songs there are a nice representation of the disc (specifically Kingdom II & Winter Flight).
Take a bow gentlemen. You've earned it.
www.gatesofwinter.com
Special thanks to zekeyou for the hook up.
