(TheBRHM.com) We recently took a “Greatest Album Debuts” jaunt to Canada for some power metal stylings. As a country for metal music, I dig Canada for its speed metal and thrash offerings but acts like Smoulder, 3 Inches of Blood, metal OG Thor, and Gatekeeper show that the Great White North has some power metal chops.
It’s Gatekeeper—one of the more modern epic heavy metal acts—that we’ll be focusing on here. Originating in Alberta, Gatekeeper plays a mix of tempos depending on story or lore in that song. I actually enjoyed the tempo changes and I’m normally a “the fast option only” listener.
The guitar work and percussion on the debut give both urgency and weight to the songs when you’re just letting the album rock. The singer on this release—Jean-Pierre Abboud—and the lyrical content contributed heavily to that.
This debut has enough going for it to pull a full listen on the first spin. Normally, I’ll break an album up in two parts depending on when I dive into it but this has me on board start to finish. I will say the band’s lyrical Let’s check out the band’s debut from 2018: East of Sun.
A-Side of East of Sun
If there’s always one thing that will keep listening to an album: a speedster opening track. Gatekeeper comes in hot and heavy with “Blade of Cimmeria”. It’s a dope track on its own and I like it as an opener but I will say there are better options—one happens to be on this side of the album.
A song of note is “North Wolves”, it’s not exactly one of the two bangers on this side but it is the kind of track I enjoy listening to on a power metal album. It flows well into another banger in “Warrior Without Fear” and comes off as something as the lead-in instead of its own song. There’s nothing wrong with that role for a song—except when it’s not the intent. Without being sandwiched between the two bangers, it would be probably stand out more but it’s a fine song regardless.
The A-side closer is “Ninefold Muse” and it’s another tune I’ll say was fine and does its job of wrapping up this half. It doesn’t have the same oomph to it that “Blade of Cimmeria” had but it’s a fine song on its own.
Strongest Tracks: Blade of Cimmeria*, Warrior Without Fear
B-Side
“Bell of Tarantia” isn’t a speedster but it has some gas in the tank to ride for 6-minutes with mid temp that builds into a gallop in the second half. I dig it. Also, it sounds similar to Longing’s Past, a U.S epic heavy metal band from the 90s that leaned more melodic than aggressive.
While “Bell of Tarantia” is heavily melodic, the titular track mixes both. If the album was all this, I definitely wouldn’t mind. In fantasy terms, it mixes the epicness of high fantasy with the roughness and intensity of sword and sorcery.
In other words, it’s a great mix.
In albums of this genre, I’m looking for that pumping, anthemic song. It doesn’t have to be “Deadly Sinners”, “Hail and Kill” or “Battle Hymns” but it is one of the album’s battle hymns. In this project’s case “Swan Sword Saga” fits the bill but so does the album closer “Oncoming Ice”.
The closer is a very heavy, epic song that makes use of Abboud’s vocal flexibility well. I’ve been mostly focused on the vocals in this review but the guitar work of Blackwell, Kroecher, and bass player Messier are on point. They have a major role in setting the atmosphere and on East of Sun and they do their thing extremely well.
Overall, I feel that the B-side or second half of this project was more enjoyable but the whole project is worth a listen. I had to check elsewhere for the cover song bonuses since Apple Music doesn’t include them.
Gatekeeper covering Omen’s “Death Rider” was great. I love some Omen and bands covering their music or Jag Panzer’s always pique my interest. The cover of Savatage’s “Hall of the Mountain King” was fine but I think they would’ve slammed on a “Queen of the Reich” cover from Queensrÿche.
Strongest Tracks: Bell of Tarantia*, Swan Sword Saga*, Oncoming Ice
Strength of the Opener: “Blade of Cimmeria”
The opening track “Blade of Cimmeria” was pretty strong in that it established what kind of tales were getting in this album. It also gave a taste of what to expect throughout. However, I would’ve loved “Warrior Without Fear” or “East of Sun” as the opening tracks. “Blade of Cimmeria” is a tune that could hold its own on either side of the album and in any position.
“Warrior Without Fear” and “East of Sun” just seemed to embody the album as a whole better with both being in line with the tempo of the project overall. On that note, the immediate ear-catcher took the opening honors.
Staff Writer; James “Metal” Swift Jr.
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.