After two EPs, it is time for Gates of Doom to present its second album.
Created in 2012 in Italy by Manuel Scapinello (guitar) and Stefano Declich (vocals), the band goes from Melodic Death Metal to an Epic Black/Death Metal through time. Giulia Zuliani (drums) joins the band in 2015, then Luca Franzin (bass) and Francesco Nobile (guitar) take up arms in 2016. Together, they compose and record Aquileia Mater Aeterna.
The beautiful illustration made by Sebastian Salvo announces a warlike theme for the album, and the roman city of Aquileia will be the theater of the band’s seven compositions. Sulcus Primigenius / Under the Sign of the Eagle begins the fight with a melancholic introduction, then the dark yet melodic and impressive riffs are next. The martial rhythmic let place to howlings and heady leads, then Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, with a rage and furor that only a true warrior can spread. Riffs are sharp, and they create a hostile climate on which the band weaves its rhythmic full of sharp leads. Between majestic tones and heaviness, I, the Eagle, the Strength, the Power begins. The sound immediately catches us and drags us to the battleground, on which headbang is mandatory. A break comes to slow this dark aura down, but it remains until the last note.
The Galenus Plague starts with this fast-paced rhythmic, those visceral howlings completed by some screamed backing vocals, but also those heady leads that continue on a softer chorus. Once again, rage takes the band over, then the introduction on Under a Treacherous Domain comes to allow us to breath. But rest is short, because the rhythmic quickly comes back with mesmerizing leads and solid blast beat. But once again, the tone gets darker with Attila Flagellum Dei, a tearing and deep track that creates a contrast between a ravaging rhythmic basis and melancholic leads. Tee solo signed by Raffaello Indri (Elvenking, Garden Wall) settles with the general mood of the song, that lets place to Aquileia Mater Aeterna, the last song. The city is in the grip of panic, and we feel despair join the rhythm part which increasingly becomes sad and weighing.
Gates of Doom’s roots give them both legitimacy and the necessary strength to tell the city’s story. Aquileia Mater Aeterna is a rich and catchy album, which leads us in the front row of this long battle.
85/100