Label : Open Media
Review By Tayla Dickinson
A band who are wholly new to me, Gate of Sorrow. Of course I know very little about them but I managed to dig up some information. Gate of Sorrow formed in 1997 they are from the Czech Republic. They started out as a death-thrash metal band but in 2005 when the female singer and celloist Milada Miltáková joined they added more gothic elements to their music. So far the band has released 3 full-lenghth CDs, a MCD and a promo EP. “Twilight Above Sirius” is a perfect opening track. So haunting and deep. The male and female vocals flow well on this track. It sounds like a theme you’d expect to hear in a horror movie. I admit I didn’t expect to find a track like this anywhere. The female vocalist whispers for most of the track which adds more suspense, along with the organs. The track finishes with the low hum of the oragn and a hollow robotic type voice over. The second of the platter, “Cursed Silence” , had me suprised once again. Very different to the previous extreme gothic atmosphere of the previous track, the track starts of really heavy with both vocalists singing very well. Milada uses her voice’s classicalness and combines wish mysterious whispers, the deep male voice adds more effect to the song. “Tears in the Ashes” is a mid-tempo song. The combination of Milada‘s voice, the cello and keys are wonderful in this song. The guitars and drums add more darker elements to this song. “Black Sin” starts of very quickly with a mixture of heavy bass, growls and beautifully high “wails” for Milada. Throughput the song the vocals changes to the tempo. When the song slows down Milada sings high but clearly, then as it gets faster she begin with her “wails”. “Stay” is a deeply haunting song, a mixtures of more high singing and “wails” with a overvoice of growls every so often throughout the song. The keyboard melodies in the song make it more melodonic. They is a small spoken part inthe song which makes it more “eerie”, and adds to the atmosphere. In “My Ruins” the growls are very dominant. The music is very melodonic, with more keys and cello parts. The growls are backed once again by the beautiful voice of Milada. The song comes more to life towards the end. More power comes into the song from the bas and guitars. “Follow Me to the Other Side” is a darkly beautiful song! Milada‘s vocals are superb on the track, her voice flows well with the music throughout. She goes higher than on most of the other tracks. The music is very thrash metal orientated on the track with many heavy riffs and few melodonic sounds. “And Back to the Evil” starts of to the sound of a piano, and the sound of distant church bells. Then the heavier sounds come in followed by the growls and later on the classical voice. The sounds on this track are very melodonic get gloomy, which adds the gothic atmosphere to this sound. This track is very haunting in few ways as once again Milada reachs such notes to send chills up and down your spine. “Behind the Mirror” has piano melodies that make this song almost symphonic by genre. It appears that Milada takes over the song and I belive this track has her best vocal on, from this album! She combines her classical voice with spoken parts and whispers. Her vocal isn’t as high as previous tracks in most places. Near the middle of the sound the growls come in again and make the song darker. Then the music softens and Milada sing clean vocals. “Sirius” is the album final track and outro. The song is calm, with the piano and the cello being the only instruments used. Milada sings along so beautifully with whispers, clean vocals, classical notes and spoken parts. The song is short but very sweet. Overall this album was great! The band combined elements of classical music with that of thrash, gothic and atmoshperic metal. I personally think the growls could have been more brutal rather than sound hollow and computerized.
Rating – 90/100
Tracklist
- Twillight Above Sirius (Intro)
- Cursed Silence
- Tears in the Ashes
- Black Sin
- Stay
- My Ruins
- Follow Me to the Other Side
- And Back to the Evil
- Behind the Mirror
- Sirius (Outro)
Line Up
- Milada Miltáková – Vocals
- Roman Tureček – Vocals, Guitar
- Libor Mikláš – Guitar
- Ludvík Čihánek – Keyboards
- Bohumil Zajíček – Bass
- Dušan Tureček – Drums
Links