Skylark - Divine Gates Part I: Gate of Hell

So, after hearing Eddy Antoninis (Skylark main-man and keyboardist) solo-album, which was very promising indeed, my expectations for this disc were quite big. And I wasn’t disappointed, it IS better than Eddy’s solo album, at least when it comes to sound quality and production. I feel that the solo album may score higher in the song department (especially ”Twilight” and ”When Water Became Ice”, for you who own it), but overall this is a stronger album. But lets start with the beginning.

After a short spoken intro - simply called "Intro", the disc starts of with the first highlight, the 7 minute song "Welcome". This song begins very slow, with just some synth chords from Antonini and a simple vocal melody, and then "takes off" with fast drumming, lead synths and powerful guitars. Fabio Dozzo's lead vocals are great throughout (except for a TERRIBLE accent), and also on this song, which has some of the disc's strongest melodys. Only the chorus is a bit dissapointing, but if you see the bridge and pre-chorus as a chorus and the real chorus as a bridge, you won't think of it. The next two songs, "The Triumph" and "Belzebu" (which is also released as a single are also very good songs, especially the latter, with its catchy guitar melody. Both songs are also very long - 9 and 8 minutes respectively, and that makes up for a couple of quite short tracks later on. The only bad thing is the terrible guitar sound in the middle of "The Triumph", it sounds like guitarist Fabrizio Romani plugged is axe into a shaving machine or something...... Song 5 is a slow, harpsichord-based tune entitled "The Last Question", which again soon becomes the 1,4 minute blast-out "Earthquake", and these two songs stand very good as a contrast to eachother. After these, there is the incredibly boring ballad "I Can't find Love Tonight" (sounds like a fuckin' Bryan Adams song or something!!) , which I usually just skip. A bad melody supported bu the same fuzz-shave guitar is not what I call a good ballad-chorus. After this, there is another short blast-out called "Satan Arise". This track is not as brutal as the title may suggest, but very fast & melodic with powerful drums, great synths and cool bass-lines. The disc ends with two quite straight-forward fast songs ("Why Did You Kill the Princess" and "Dance of Stars") with a short interlude ("Lift for the sky") in between. "WDYKtP" is let down by too many repetitions of the same parts, which weren’t that good in the first place either (but it has a great chorus and also nice female vocals). "Dance of Stars", on the other hand is a good way to end a record - quite good melodys throughout, speed and power and some cool riffs.

All in all, this is a really good disc, with lots of good power metal on it, and I recommend it to every fan of fast, symphonic PM played by good musicians (even if the guitar-solos are not the best). The lyrics are based on a concept of warriors, gods, gates, angels and devils, and are connected with "Divine Gates Part 2 - Gate of Heaven" which was to be released in April but I’m sure will be out quite soon.

Additional Comments: I was much looking forward to this release, mainly because of the guesting musicians from Labyrinth - Thorsen and Tyrant. Unfortunately their bits on this disc were miniscule, which was a giant disappointment, especially since the songs on "Gate of Hell" are long winded, overblown with droning prog trappings. There's simply not enough to keep it going and some of the voices are quite laughable in places. Strangely, one of my favorite songs is the sweet pop ditty "Why Did You Kill the Princess?" which could have been alot better than what it is, but it thankfuly comes at just the right place in the album so that its more of a relief from the overpowering drumwork. Like the two previous Skylark albums, the production is a bit hollow in places as well. The singer, Fabio Dozzo could use some work, his Italian accent isn't endearing as the 'other' Fabio's (Lione) but it does get the job done. In the next few years he should improve more. All in all, the album has alot of good going for it, including an interesting concept, and positively brilliant keyboard playing by Eddy Antonini, who literally steals the show here. While listening to the album, there is a lingering feeling that is simply is not dark enough, they are talking about the Gates of 'Hell' here, so it should be alot darker than it is with a brisker and lighter follow up for the conclusion (which is what I had envisioned) but this simply isn't so. "Part I" of the Gates series is very similiar to "Dragon's Secrets" in sound, except with notably better production, so as long as you don't expect anything different to that, then you should find this a pleasant prog trip to take. - Alanna Evans

Rating - 7.7
by Torgeir Krokfjord
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