Emergency Gate

Rewake

Written by: TL on 13/01/2009 20:15:19

I love how megalomania seems to be a requirement if one wants to apply for the job as PR-person of a record label. If I had a beer for every time I've read that something was "a new metal masterpiece" or some similar OTT bravado, I think I'd just about have enough to pull a Dr. Peppers in time for the next Guns N' Roses album, only this time of course there'd be alcohol involved. Party time huh? Anyway the trigger to that little rant was the otherwise ordinary promo sheet that came along when our mailbox was hit by "Rewake", the newest album by Germany's Emergency Gate.

"Rewake" is by no means a masterpiece though, that much I'm willing to say right off the bat. As AP hinted upon laying his ears on it, as a metal record the guitar work here is "dangerously close to being just more 'genericore'", and as for the vocals, let's just say that while the screams here aren't anything near decipherable (except for when the singer is screaming "Let's Gooooooo!"), listening to them is by far preferable to their clean counterparts. Why? Because the gruff low notes they provide made me think that the guy who sings them is a Jim Morrison in a place where a Dio is needed. Need I say more?

Criticism out of the way though, I do in fact find "Rewake" rather enjoyable, because while Emergency Gate don't reinvent any wheels, they're armed to the teeth with attitude and melodies and their album is a pretty consistent dose of lightweight melodeath built around those qualities. The songs might not be catchy enough to glue themselves into your mind for any significant period of time, but while you have them on, they're cool to listen to, as the grooves and melodies get your feet tapping and your head bobbing alright. The synth also does a very nice job of layering the sound in a sweet manner, so props for finding a better way to include that than most bands manage.

Stylistically, this band aligns the most with Denmark's own Raunchy and their shameless and carefree branch of melodeath (or disco-metal as I seem to remember them calling it), except the clean refrains aren't quite as poppy here. While that of course may keep some of the harder of you metallers on board though, I think I would've preferred even some mediocre, auto-tuned emo choruses here, rather than enduring the low quality clean stuff I already talked about.

So overall, "Rewake" ends up being the kind of record that's more of an "alright" one than a great one, and it will probably be passed by most, the exception being those who like melodeath enough to not mind it being a bit watered down every now and again. Even then though, it will most likely just be a means to pass time between releases from some of the bigger guns of the genre, as will other albums by this band until they can get their vocals to sound better. That's my verdict at least, and here's the grade that comes with it:

Download: Life v. 2.0, Double Suicide, Gold & Glass,
For The Fans Of: Raunchy, Deadlock, The Very End
Listen: myspace.com/emergencygateonline

Release Date 23.01.2009
SPV/Silverwolf Records

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