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Emergency Gate

You

Written by: SC on 03/02/2013 16:45:18

Emergency Gate is a six-piece melodic death metal band from Munich, Germany, which started playing back in 1996 and released their self-titled debut in 2000. Bass player Mario Lochert is the only original member remaining in the band. In 2008 they recruited current lead singer Matthis Kupka (ex. Suidakra) which completed Emergency Gate’s line-up as it is nowadays.

“You” is the latest record from the band and it is full speed ahead from the first track “Mindfuck”, which is a good indicator of how the rest of the record sounds like. The drums are trampling you down into the ground, the guitars and the bass are covering you with dirt and the synth on top is freezing your body beneath the earth while Kupka is screaming at your face. Unfortunately, none of this is really exciting nor does it drag you along. Sure, there is an average core of quality but none of the elements rise above average at any point.

Kupka's clean singing and shouting combined with the synths draws parallels to In Flames like on the track “Feeling Inside”. The synthesizing is almost danceable like something Swedish House Mafia could have composed for a club-hit, and the vocal switches between rough screaming in the verse and soft singing in the chorus are where the electronica really kicks in. Unfortunately, the guitars never become exciting and together with the bass, drums and synths they just make a porridge of noise.

It is a shame that the instruments drown in each other’s company because when a riff cuts through now and then they are rather nice. Almost every track has a fifteen second intro and almost every one of these intros has a delicious riff, but as soon as the intro part is done, it all just collapses and gets unclear. “You” has elements of melodic death metal, hard rock and metalcore, and some of these ingredients work and some of them do not.

From my point of view “You” is a semi successful record that, despite this lukewarm feeling, possibly can set fire to a crowd while being played live. Personally I do not feel anything special while listening to it, but I can see why you might. There is loads of tempo, plenty of easily memorable choruses, and great riffs at the intro of almost every track.

Download: Mindfuck, Breathless, Regret
For The Fans Of: In Flames, Caliban, Kreator
Listen: facebook.com

Release Date 25.01.2013
ZYX Music / Golden Core