Gates to the Morning

Gates to the Morning

Return to Earth

19 July 2019

This New Jersey, USA entity is focused on an ambitious mission. It is multitasking prog that shows various genres. You do not listen to this album for traditional songs. You listen to it for the music to take you to different spaces and let the music go wherever it will go and you can come along and see what happens. The moods change a lot: melodic prog; depressive; extreme metal; mellow; virtuoso guitar; and post-rock are some things that come to mind. However, the music generally is melodic progressive metal with extreme metal moments, more or less.

If you don’t mind some abrupt transitions, you’ll be ok with the album, but if you pay attention to the transitions and you value smooth transitions, then this album will very likely not work for your preferences. For instance, the song “My Star” is a gentle progressive midtempo track with melodic singing, and without a real pause of transition or forewarning, the next track “Crossing the Abyss” starts by launching headfirst into black metal, including the extreme vocals. It seems more a like a compilation, than one single entity. This latter track then changes to melodic prog a bit later; the track itself is a multi-genre track, with black metal and melodic prog all in one. This track does not have smooth transitions, either. Each segment by itself is cool. The fast tremolo and fast drumming sound good, actually. That’s not the problem. It’s the switching between moods that is a bit too abrupt. On the other hand, the song “Rekindled” is a much better example of good transitions. The song changes moods from mellow to fast, melodic black metal speed, and it’s done in a smoother way. The melodies seem to go from one mood to another without being so abrupt. The guitar work on this song is very good. The song itself is awesome.

The album shows lots of skill. It is an adventurous listen, and should be interesting to the die-hard prog fans seeking newer bands. It lasts an hour and you won’t absorb it with one listen, but with repeated listens you will notice the album’s lots of good moments.

gatestothemorning.bandcamp.com