Year : 2026
Style : Melodic Heavy Metal
Country : Finland
Audio : 320 kbps + front
Size : 98 mb
Bio:
Serpent Gates is a new classic heavy metal band from Finland, which will soon release its amazing debut album The Veil Of Darkness via Venomoon Records/ Inverse Records. It’s an absolute joy to listen for all fans of the solo Bruce Dickinson albums as well as classic, melody-driven heavy metal as a whole.The project began as a long-awaited return to my roots. After years of exploring different genres, I felt a strong pull back toward old-school heavy metal, but finding musicians with that specific dedication was a challenge. That changed a few years ago when I met guitarist Tuomas Västilä; we were immediately on the same page and ready for the long haul. We’ve always prioritized quality, and finding a vocalist capable of delivering a world-class performance in such a demanding genre isn’t easy, even in a metal-rich country like Finland. This led us to collaborate with one of my idols, Antony Parviainen. He believed in the strength of the material enough to come on board in a session capacity, ensuring the songs received the vocal performance they deserved.
Album:
When listening to Serpent Gates’s debut album, the first thing that caught my attention was the inclusion of Machine Men/Psychework’s Anthony Parviainen on lead vocals. Even with him just serving as a session singer, his “Bruce Dickinson with a Finnish accent” delivery certainly suits the material at hand with a volley of soaring wails and high-pitched singalong layers. There’s something to be said for being so good at emulation that you end up being recognizable in your own sort of way.As you can imagine with that premise established, The Veil Of Darkness doesn’t even bother hiding its Iron Maiden influence. In addition to the vocals, the guitar invoke the classic twin harmonies while the rhythm section provides a beefy, energized undercurrent. The mix of modern tinges and a power metal sheen also gives the proceedings an outlook somewhere between Primal Fear and Bruce circa Accident Of Birth, making it right in line with their fellow acolytes in groups like Stray Gods and Ironbound.The songwriting also focuses on the expected blend of speedy tempos and bombastic choruses, albeit with just enough variation to shake things up. The opening “Metamorphosis” makes a pretty strong first impression with its rapid fire structure going from rousing verses to uplifting choruses, “The Czar Will Fall” achieving similar as the closing bookend while “Night Creeper” also features a solid bounce despite its racy lyrics. On the flip side, songs like “The Beast With Seven Heads” and “Down The Cross” lean more on the crunchy chugs punctuated with a couple harsher shrieks while the title track appropriately takes the album to its darkest point.While The Veil Of Darkness proves to be a solid slice of melodic metal worship in its own right, its conception and execution arguably make it more interesting to speculate on what Serpent Gates could do from here. The performances are tight and the songwriting is competent, but I do find myself wondering how a more solidified lineup in the future could affect the modern Maiden template on display here. I tend to end up enjoying this approach on a certain base level more often than not, but one hopes they find ways to tinker with it going forward.
Line Up:
Antony Parviainen – Vocals
Tuomas Västilä - Guitars
Sami Tapola - Bass
Juho Hakalax - Drums - See also: Abyssion (live), ex-Madhatter, ex-Gian
Production:
Composed by Juho Hakalax
Lyrics by Jegori Miinin
Arranged by Serpent Gates
Recorded by Samu Oittinen at Fantom Studio
Mixed by Janne Hakanen / jannehakanen.com
Mastered by Jaakko Viitalähde / Virtalähde Mastering
Produced by Juho Hakalax
Tracklist:
01. Metamorphosis 03:50
02. The Beast with Seven Heads 03:45
03. The Veil of Darkness 05:20
04. Night Creeper 03:11
05. Down the Cross 03:47
06. Sanctimonious 05:55
07. Nephilim 04:43
08. Black Clouds Rising 01:07
09. The Goblet of Tears 04:21
10. The Czar Will Fall 05:54
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
