Gateway

Who hasn't found a new band based on an excellent review (magazine, webzine, ...) and has blindly invested in this band and being very frustrated at the end ? Please believe that it could also happen on this site, as taste is so individual. As we have implemented a new section - Archive - and as everybody is chasing records on the web, I think it is important for you to know - based on our taste of course - where you should invest your money ... or when you should avoid label's catchword. I will start this new section with Treasure Land, Gateway, a "typical" label's trap. The kind of CD you forgot you bought ... one hour after ! This band, being presented as a new mixture of Stratovarius and Malmsteen, is nothing else than a big joke (at least on this album). This "blind-buy" has been quite a pain for my wallet. These musicians, supposed to be the new sensation out of Scandinavia (back in 1998), are in fact a complete "copy-paste" disaster as the only catchword I could apply to this album is : "lake of talent and inspiration". I am wondering if the vocalist believes what he sings ... or if he is just reading (singing) the lyrics he received twenty minutes ago. The battle between the guitar and the keyboard is interesting (two instrumental tracks), but there is no way it can save this Gateway (to sleep). Heaven (6th track) and the instruments tracks are quite good tracks ... but the rest of the record deserve to go directly to the recycle bin. This Gateway (to money), is filled with "other" bands songs and the lack of inspiration is pathetic. The sound of the keyboard - welcome to the 70's :( - is getting on my nerves and the singer should have lost his b*lls ... because he is simply out of tunes when he tries high-pitched notes. And when the rhythm accelerates ... the brakes are immediately pushed on. Some bands out there (full of talent) are battling like hell to obtain a dissent contract ... Of course this is just a question of taste, but the miserable combination of prog and speed metal is "indigestible" for my hears. We all have albums in our metal-collection that we are not proud of. This is unfortunately one of them. In other word, before "eating" label's slogans, just press one time the play button and invest after the first spin. You might save some money. The kind of Cds to avoid at all cost !!! I would like to thanks my teammates for this wonderful idea about the "Archive section" - nice therapy actually - as it helps me to put out my frustration about this Cd. Don't worry, I (we) will also talk about wonderful album I (we) have discovered. We hope this section will help you to found new records and help you to save money ... for interesting releases. Who said the new Blind Guardian :) ???