Emergency Gate
You

Emergency Gate makes an album for you, called 'You'. This is the fourth full length album by the band and it's a melodic death metal album in a sort of Swedish way, but with more of a German frenzy in it. I'm guessing 'You' will be some sort of a breakthrough for Emergency Gate as they've built some kind of a name with their previous albums which should reach some sort of a climax with this album considering where they are. The first three albums has got the attention of the critics well and they've had some nice things said about themselves so far, words that it's time to prove they've deserve - for real this time. And that's why Emergency Gate has taken help from Mario Lochert and Han Vacik in Dreamsound studios to really make sure that 'You' gets that crystal clear sound that will knock you to the ground every time you hear it.

So, have they succeeded? Is the album a breakthrough? Well, most of the time I think so but it's not entirely clear to me. The album have that good sound, good songs and is really well played - like it's suppose to be when you make a breakthrough album but still I'm not completely sold on this. So what's bothering me? Well, there's probably a bunch of them reasons (I haven't counted) but I only need one - it's not really rEvolutionizing. So let's get to that million dollar question: if the music is good, well played and interesting - does it need to be fresh and innovative and perhaps even revolutionizing too? No, off course not, but it can't sound like everything else either, it has to have some sort of personal touch to not feel worn out or even plagiarized. Because that's never interesting. So, maybe they're not revolutionizing but are they enough fresh and personal to still be good?

I can't say it will be easy for Emergency Gate to stand out from this overcrowded genre we call melodic death metal but at the same time I don't think they're plainly plagiarize anything else. Sure, it sounds similar to many other bands and not really fresh and creative or inventive - but that doesn't really bother me that much. It's not like you scream "In Flames clone!" or "Children Of Bodom jr (Norther)!" and for most of this album I am amused and I think it's a good experience to hear these twelve songs because some of them are really good!

What you get is a whole bunch of electronics and overall a quite heavy album, much so because of the heavy bass thundering through the entire album. But it's not always you hear how heavy it really is, much of it is hidden in the electronics and occasionally this almost makes the album sound like a summer club hit-track. Between the mostly screaming and shouting we sometime also hear some clear vocals, which is something I normally like better than the shouts in this kind of metal. However, in the case of Emergency Gate I don't like it and I would gladly see them stop that because it's not done properly and it doesn't work with the music so it would be better if they only growled, screamed and shouted (and that's probably the most unique thing with Emergwncy Gate I can find).

You might have got the impression that I don't like Emergency Gate, but that's not true - I do. I like 'You', and I think there is a market for this album, but at the same time I'm aware of the fact that it doesn't stand out and make an unforgettable experience. But the sound is good, the songs are good and the only problem is that my cheek is safely secured in the normal "cheek position" as I hear it. It's not like in the case with the latest In Flames album, to name one example, where I spent most of the run-time looking for the cheek I dropped already by the first track. 'You' is a better album than most in the genre and definitely an album worthy to lend an ear or two. I do even think it could be one of the best albums in this genre at the end of the year… But then again it's not rEvolutionizing so we don't know yet.

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