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Gates Of War
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Gates Of War |
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| HellPass are a heavy metal band from Greece formed in 2022 by Vasilis Iakinthos (vocals), Aggelos Mouratidis (guitars), and Alexandros Koliousios (drums) - the band completed by Nikos Paraskevopoulos (bass). The bands debut album 'Gates Of War' was released in 2023... | ||||||
| ...featuring nine songs of straight up heavy metal with just a hint of both doom and thrash! The one minute instrumental 'Gate' breathes life into the album, easing the listener in on the crest of an anticipation fuelled cloud, building the tension to a dramatic climax - and then boom! 'Alter Nation' takes off with a huge bombastic riff, echoing the iconic gallop of traditional heavy metal, the band planting one "foot on the monitor", inviting listeners, fans and followers to raise their fists high in the air. And head bang too - gently though, as 'Alter Nation' is far too melodic for aggressive head banging! The title song 'Gates Of War' is more menacing than the previous song, maintaining a steady stomp as it leisurely wanders through the heavy metal genre. The bombastic nature of 'Alter Nation' also remains, the blend of mid tempo foot stomping with melodic, traditional heavy metal is highly infectious, the band delivering an opening one-two to keep listeners hooked for what is yet to come. | ||||||
| The anthemic repetitive chanting of "fight" heralds the arrival of the heaviest song heard so far, 'Fallen Hero' shuddering the ground and shaking buildings with an almighty barrage of thunder fuelled riffing and drumming! HellPass have shown glimpses of pace across the albums first three songs, each of them featuring an old school sound that is gonna attract the older metallers (like me) to the bands soundscape. But HellPass are not going for a retro sound, they are most definitely a modern day band performing a modern day brand of metal. The heaviest song heard so far 'Light In The Dark', resonates with the iconic NWOBHM guitar tone, the band marching majestically on with heads held high. HellPass may be over two thousand miles and forty years away from the birth of heavy metal in the UK, but have managed to grasp the whole essence of the eighties metal sound! And with a mellow passage, the band float 'Fade Away' across the airways and into the realm of balladry. Power balladry to be precise - and on a metal album too! A bit of a no from me here as regular readers will already know, HellPass delivering a song that should appear on a rock album. | ||||||
| And with a surge of pace and power, 'Futura' is up and running with more purpose and intent than any other song heard so far. The band are storming ahead here, banging heads with more vigour than ever, planting one foot firmly on the monitor and the other right in the middle of the heavy metal genre. What a turnaround from the previous song! And the band remain standing tall and proud with a new metal anthem - 'Oath To The Metal Gods' a heavy hitting barrage of concrete smashing, wall crumbling, bone snapping, neck breaking melodic heavy metal! Yes readers, that's right, all that violence and injury as a result of a highly melodious song! The final song 'Burning Flags', is the longest song on offer by some distance, clocking in at nearly seven minutes in length! And for the first minute we're treated to one helluva mellow intro, raising the anticipation level to new heights, and then whoosh! 'Burning Flags' romps off with all the calibre of the eighties metal scene, banging heads harder than ever, raising fists high in the air to salute a sparkling finale. | ||||||
| Overall, an infectious and highly addictive album of melodic heavy metal with a strong old school flavour. | ||||||
| Review by Iron Mathew Collins | ||||||
| Reviewed for Metal Gods TV | ||||||
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