II by Gates of Dawn

Decibel premiere & interview: https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2023/07/14/full-album-stream-interview-gates-of-dawn-ii/

Text by D. Pearce:

A new Gates of Dawn album is nothing to be taken lightly. Since it is T.N.’s decision to call this black metal (and it is black metal), you may think you know what this sounds like, because you listen to that kind of music. It is advisable, first, to fortify yourself with whatever chemicals, ophthalmic or otherwise, you deem appropriate before undertaking the Minnesotan’s second solo album, but do also jettison any preconceived notions you may have regarding the tenets of the aforementioned style of metal.

A band who proffers no easy influence and bears a sound novel and without pretense to any evil darkness or trite melancholy, of course such a band is bound to confound and beguile at equal turns. Feeble wordsmiths find their adjectives worthless; staunch believers in the unlight, their foundational predilections challenged. And all this before the revelatory choral blast of “Eyes with No Light.” For here is where the unfamiliar truly begins for we GoD die-hards, considering that we’ve been privy to the psychedelic bloom of “Crimson Mess” since Promo 2022. By the time “O Ouroboros” comes chugging along, there’s no denying this is nothing if not a rewarding experience. Riffs warm and crunchy roll at a medium pace over shuffling, full-swing drums and, man, does it go down easy. “Celestial Wisdom,” answers back like an echo across the Milky Way from a future, impossibly older self. Head-banging becomes irresistible, but done pensively still, an ear always tuned to the wizened howls amidst the lush constellation of “Celestial Wisdom.” Like surging through the dimensional barrier as in the end of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Gates of Dawn’s II concludes with a kosmische outro.

The trip survived, your outlook altered. And II stands above a gathering crowd, a timeless beacon excavated from deep beneath alien soil.

Psychedelic Black Metal
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