GATEKEEPER - "EAST OF SUN" (2018)

GATEKEEPER - "EAST OF SUN"
(Running time: 57:33 minutes; 10 songs)
("Cruz del Sur"; 2018; CD):

Back on track and up here at work again, yes, and to kick this very one here and now off let me begin with just one word, okay, and so now here it comes: Wow!!! Yes, and with that said let us now start this very one here properly: Hey guys, oh yeahr, this very one here totally overwhelmed me and it massively conquered me and, yes, it continues to do so again and again and time after time. GATEKEEPER - hailing from (then) Edmonton and (now) Vancouver over there up from Canada - were total unknown strangers before their "EAST OF SUN" album to me and this very one here, GATEKEEPER's mentioned "EAST OF SUN", is their- for all what I know- proper full-length-debutalbum, and it was released still pretty recently this year via the mighty "CRUZ DEL SUR" record-label like already mentioned in this very year of 2018. I'll try to keep it... hm... again (?) shorter this time... at least a bit or so... and so now enough of the introducing and smalltalking stuff and finally right and direct and straight into the action, yes, and so now one more time again let's roll: This is absolutely brilliant and fantastic Epic Heavy Metal of the absolute masterly supreme kind with a strong own character and identity born and bred through old/early SAVATAGE, old glory MANOWAR, a good dose of MANILLA ROAD, and OMEN and raised by these giants to become a very independently, stand-alone, and high skilled battle scarred Epic Heavy/Power Metal bastard that would make Conan massively proud and that would be the perfect soundtrack for riding axe-swinging over the wide fields and through the hot jungles of Cimmeria. This almighty album kicks off with the phenomenal harsh slashing and deadly sharp cutting through and through on purest Speed Metal raised "THE BLADE OF CIMMERIA" filled with and marked by an impressively intense and heavily stunning, massively tension-building and really huge and despise the precise and fast cutting and raging character of it nicely diverse and multi-layered guitar work delivering everything destroying riffs and all heads off-cutting rhythmic arrangements and, standing above all, singing and screaming leads and intoxicating solos, hell yeahr, and also filled to the max with and marked by powerful and clean, clear, and very sharp and still pretty harsh sung lead vocals that are cultivating it all, while bonesmashing and harsh thundering drumming and a grim and evil sawing powerful bass back it all up in a stunning and massive way. After this absolutely overwhelming kick-off of the album the ingredients pretty much stay the same even the Speed Metal gets sort of omitted and the really larger than life and by a breathtaking and goosepimples-non-stopp-giving dramaturgy marked Epic Metal or Epic Heavy Metal really takes the all and everything commanding lead, yes, but the stunning, high-skilled, diverse and multi-layered, very atmospheric and intense, sharp cutting and harsh slashing and above all really singing and with fantastic melody lines excelling guitar work, the highly charismatic and very forceful and very imploringly and urgently delivered air-raid-siren vocals, the brutal smashing and stunning drumming, and the massively heavy sawing bass still make and mark the songs and the musick and this in all the fucking right ways and for all the damn right reasons. And above all GATEKEEPER's "EAST OF SUN" is marked by diverse and very rich, due to many differents facets and layers nicely and in a damn high-skilled way very multi-layered and sort of ever changing songwriting with tremendous amounts of massively tension building drama and an incredible amount of really exciting moments and grapping, rousing changes and twists and turns in it all that conquer and overwhelm all and everything in a damn stunning and drastic and massive way, yes, and it is incredible how huge and how 'gloriosuly grapping' the tension arcs of each and every single one of the songs (that are also very often brilliantly enriched with amazing acoustic sprinklings) are, yes, really damn bloody fucking fantastic. This is, to get this straight and say this clear and precise, an absolute and total supreme masterpiece and a really larger than life and an outstanding album and it is one of the very best ones in and for 2018 and this without a single doubt, yes, and I can only and clearly and calmly recommend this to everyone outta there who's into the described musick and if you are in this target-group and really should not have or even know it so far then you should really and by any means change this as damn soon as only anyhow possible and best promptly right now and instantly. Absolutely fantastic lyrics, an outstanding fucking gorgeous artwork, a clear and still heavy and sharp cutting production-sound as well as two brilliant and phenomenal cover-tunes of the omnipotent mastepieces that are OMEN's "DEATH RIDER" and SAVATAGE's "HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING" finally round the supreme masterpiece that is GATEKEEPER's "EAST OF SUN" finally and in a perfect way up. Epic Metal in perfection. Get this immortal beast of an album, just get it. 

(10 of 10 points)

https://gatekeeper.bandcamp.com/ (-the link to the bandcamp site of the band)

GATEKEEPER - "BLADE OF CIMMERIA" (2018, "EAST OF SUN")