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Anubis Gate: Covered In Black
Anubis Gate - Covered In Black CD Album Review

Anubis Gate: Covered In Black

Progressive Metal
4.5/5.0

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Nightmare Records/Sony RED
Review: Craig Hartranft
Added: 16.08.2017

It's been three years since we've had new music from Denmark's Anubis Gate, but they've been busy nevertheless. The band took on the ambitious project of getting their first four albums, then out of print, back into circulation. They accomplished this through a successful crowd funding campaign. Orbits, The Anubis Gate Legacy Box Set, was released last August and includes two additional CDs of rare studio and live recordings. Meanwhile Anubis Gate went about writing their seventh album, Covered In Black.

Anubis Gate Band Photo

Anubis Gate

According to the band the album has a certain theme, "dealing with, and dedicated to, people in dark places ... from psychopaths, assassins to the more modern topics of being at the receiving end of what is bad about social media." These things give the music within Covered In Black a darker and heavier tone, expressed largely through thick and brisk riffage, but also a dense bottom end. Nevertheless, that does not extinguish Anubis Gate's inherent use of guitar and vocal harmony and melody in every song.

Additionally, the arrangements can also sound dense and overwhelming a times. Psychotopia, almost as the title suggests, has a deep, seemingly chaotic, nature to it's composition, while dropping in a light cello and piano segue in the middle. Then there's the "Black" suite, consisting of Black, Blacker, and Blackest, which bristles with continuous activity like thrashy riffage, thundering drums, and meandering synth lines. But in the center of the suite, within Blacker, there's a harmonious vocal breakdown (almost sounding like four part harmony) which, in turn, is followed by a feisty guitar solo. But then there's something completely different with The New Delhi Assassination. From the start, the song moves upon South Asian and Near Eastern tones, including what certainly must be a sitar. Yet all this is eventually wrapped up in thick and swollen riffage of heavy metal. Similar is Operation Cairo, but the Near Eastern tones are more subtle, reserved for the guitar lines. Listen and you will hear the nuances.

These notes should give you some hints to what's within Covered In Black. Suffice to say, this may be Anubis Gate's most ambitious album to date. It's definitely a bit different, yet equally intriguing, and so entertaining as well. If you like the band and progressive metal in general you'll want get this album. Recommended.



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The Bottom Line

Suffice to say, Covered In Black may be Anubis Gate's most ambitious album to date. It's definitely a bit different, yet equally intriguing, and so entertaining as well. If you like the band or progressive metal in general, you'll want get this album. Recommended.

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