II

Started in 2018 as a solo project by Travis Nordahl (El Ahrairah), Gates of Dawn follows the slow, steady but sure path in releasing recordings and this recent album is only the second full-length recording after a split with Charnel Oubliette, two promo demos and a self-titled album. Compared to the self-titled album which combined elements of raw atmospheric BM, symphonic BM and dungeon synth in a way at once cold and harsh yet passionate and even exhilarating, this follow-up is a much more melodic work, still retaining the ghostly rasping vocals and cold atmosphere but now evolving in a style that harks back to 1970s progressive rock, with the synthesisers especially recalling some of the cosmic space rock of bands from the late 1960s and early 70s: bands like Tangerine Dream and early Pink Floyd. Bookended by short instrumental pieces of dungeon synth and cosmic space rock respectively, the four tracks in their titles and music trace a journey from the mundane and everyday to a more abstract and universal plane of consciousness and existence.

The opening instrumental initially sounds like a proper mediaeval folk anthem with a call to arms theme, what with the reedy woodwind sound and the martial drumming rhythms, but little details like some of the keyboard notes going a bit off-key alert you to the possibility that you're going to be led into something very different from what would have been yet another pitched battle of clanging swords and halberds, flights of arrows and the occasional use of trebuchet to break down castle walls. The first proper song "Crimson Mess" features fuzzy black metal guitar textures with clean melodic symphonic keyboard folk melodies and live drumming, capped by blasts of demon ghost howling, in astonishingly sprightly music, happy yet melancholy all at once. It's as though some elements here are commenting or interrogating other elements which are doing the same to produce a very contradictory result, boogieing along without a care on one level but on another, a little bit meditative.

"Eyes with No Light" is a little more straightforward though the drumming for this symphonic / folk BM track tends towards a punkish garage approach. It has its brief moments where the music almost enters a fey faerie fantasy dimension. From "O Ouroboros" on, the music moves closer and closer to 70s space prog rock territory with even more bouncy hard-hitting percussion, rugged, fuzzy-edged guitar riffs and cold synth tones that soar to the firmament and beyond, and harsh vocals that take on the quality and stance of a prophet pronouncing predictions and statements that will turn out true and which future generations will remember in their holy texts. The themes that have developed through these tracks culminate in "Celestial Wisdom", a track at once triumphal and still melancholy, as though in the midst of victory something valuable has been lost forever, and all of a sudden, cold reality hits and the victors realise that in a sense they are losers, perhaps even bigger losers than winners. All that's left then is to go out in a motorik cosmic space ride that ends up quite trippy and psychedelic in style and ambience.

With all its contradictions, with the instruments playing against each other in tone and texture, in the moods and atmosphere they generate, the album becomes a very lively if unusual and remarkable musical entity, filled with zest and passion, but as it continues its path, it becomes pensive and aware of the fragility of life and living beings, and the consequences of loss. Along with the unusual musical approach, the song-writing is tight and very focused on its themes and goals. The music becomes a storyteller that, as it goes forwards in its lyrical subject matter and themes, goes back into the history of rock and metal, especially the history of that part of rock that parallels the rise of (and which influenced) the rise of symphonic BM, dungeon synth and dark ambient in BM and metal generally.

The musical journey through history and the cosmos is a joy to listen to, and "II" is surely a contender for Album of the Year for those lucky enough to hear it.

Thanks and much appreciation to Vernichtung for finding and recommending this album.