A Reign Of Shadows

First album for this German Power Prog band Seventh Gate. Thanks to Ralf (drummer) who send me the album directly. Very interesting album from a quite original and talented band. The music is a nice balance of Power and Progressive Metal with excellent breaks, nice vocal (female) melodies. The musicianship level of the members is very impressive and so is the song-writing. Sabine sings quite well really, but I'm not entirely sure she fits the music to the best possible way (like for Headline... I don't believe that female vocals are a good idea for that French band). If you like Headline and female vocals in general : then I'm sure you'll love it, it's just that I find it a bit "repetitive" to hear the same kind of vocals... Plus I think they belongs more to Pop music than Metal, but again that's my own opinion. The guitars are majestic, good sharp riffs coupled with very melodic solos are any more good strong points to add to this band. The drums have a quite weird electronic sound... and I although the drumming itself is really good, I believe there's something to be done about it's sound. The keyboards add the correct atmosphere to the overall sound. The overall production is quite good, there's maybe some mixing mistakes as some instruments are a bit too much in front sometimes on some songs, but no big deal. The artcover is nice (so is the booklet), a bit simple CG image but a nice looking one. I just don't like the texture on the logo (its form is cool), but that's just a tiny little detail of course ;). Impressive first album (after 2 demos), much much better than the last Headline album if you ask me. The songs are very well constructed and have an excellent atmosphere. A band to watch very closely and I'm already looking forward to listen to their next move ! Although they've signed with a small label I believe they could easely find a better deal soon. For all Progressive Power Metal fans out there, be sure to check Seventh Gate !