A Bloodred Path

Of all the many second string melodic Swedish death and black metal bands, Invasion Records or adjacent that I've been writing about lately, Gates of Ishtar might have had the most subcultural penetration around me in the mid 90s. This was a band of hopefuls that most of my metal friends knew about, even those who weren't heavily versed in the underground; many picked up their CDs at the local shops, and some even venerated them on a similar level to Dark Tranquillity and In Flames. I'm not going to claim that they were as distinct as their peers, in fact I think why they ultimately folded, but it's clear from even listening to this debut that they were solid, professional songwriters who knew the right balance for that particular strain of melodic death metal before it had even fully imprinted on the metal universe.

A Bloodred Path still sounds tight in the modern age, with a roster that included Oskar Karlsson, who had drummed on a number of the Invasion and related acts, several in a similar style (like The Everdawn), and this was probably his most popular band. There was also the vocalist, Mikael Sandorf who would go on to continue this style with The Duskfall, which saw some success as well, but never quite struck me as impressively as this band once did. Essentially this is the band which had it all...intense drumming that seemed effortless, no end to the streams of melody they could tear out from their strings, a good mix of bass that stood itself out in places from the rhythm tracks, and a vocalist who was well versed in that At the Gates style of punchy syncopated snarling. Listening back on this debut today, it does suffer from that effect where the more Swedish melodeath I hear, the more exhausted I get with melodies that seem rather predictable, but 25 years ago this all felt much fresher, like these Swedes had resurrected the NWOBHM bands, sped up their melodies and harmonies, and cloaked them in a savage death metal influence which would keep them current and appealing to all the death metal, black metal and metalcore fans.

And this album is really damn consistent, so much that I wouldn't dare pick out particular songs over others, because they all strike at the same level of quality and emotion. They're not absolute earworms like you'd hear on The Jester Race, but they were close enough that you can understand why fans of some of the bigger Swedish acts in the niche would turn to this as an immediate backup. Fast, intricate, well plotted, there was no question that these guys were going to pull more attention, and thus no surprise when they finally did. While I wasn't as hot on them as the aforementioned friends of the day, A Bloodred Path definitely holds its own, has grown on me in time, and there's no way I can deny the level of talent they had in their midst.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Somewhere in the midst of the buzz surrounding Swedish melodeath in the mid 90s, Gates of Ishtar is a band that is often left out of the conversation. Despite this lack of recognition, their work still holds up as a prime example of melodic death metal, combining thrashy riffing with sleek guitar harmonies and Mikael Sandorf's tortured vocals. Their debut, "A Bloodred Path," is a damn fine work that can hold its own with "Slaughter of The Soul" or "The Jester Race" any day.

Opening the album is the instrumental "Inanna," kicking things off with fast tremolo riffs that give way to bouncy, chugging harmonies. The guitar tone is raw and bludgeoning, and it drills through your head like a buzzsaw. This tone is perfect for Gates of Ishtar's sound, and allows the lead guitars to cut through the mix with ease. The guitar solos are fairly slow and bluesy, giving a melancholy flair that suits Sandorf's pessimistic lyrics and misanthropic howl. Sandorf uses abstract, poetic terms to express his internal turmoil, and his voice is well suited to the material, a crackling shriek similar to that of his contemporary, Tomas Lindberg. Tracks such as the brooding "When Daylight's Gone" and "The Dreaming Glade" take a slower, calmer approach, yet are no less intense, with the same catchy riffs that permeate their faster material.

The standout track, and a melodeath essential in my eyes is the third song, "Tears." Opening with fast tremolo picked riffs and propulsive drumming, the song eventually breaks down into slow, churning guitar harmonies and a soulful guitar solo, before picking up the pace once again for the final verse.

"A Bloodred Path" combines a bit of all the positive qualities of Swedish melodeath: They're able to be catchy and melodic while retaining their heaviness and aggression, and ultimately, it is this balance between grace and brutality that was their greatest strength. They may not have the fame of some of their contemporaries, but they certainly deserve a place in history alongside them.

Gates of Ishtar is a band I discovered by accident really. Swedish melodeath is a brand I am not unfamiliar with, and they came naturally in my search for some great music. Being that this is their debut album, I figure I should review this one, considering I also happen to absolutely enjoy it.

This album in particular, The Bloodred Path, is a treat for the ears, and features some of the best melodic guitar you will hear in the genre. Every track is jam packed with masterful riffage, and there is enough guitar focus here to make ones mouth water. Tempo varies between songs, some being more slow paced and others being fast. Being someone who personally enjoys very fast music, this album's pace never bothered me once. Whether the guitars are blazing away like in "Into Seasons Of Frost" or playing a soft lullaby like melodic cadence like featured in the track "Tears", I can jam to every song just fine.

In respect to that statement, the amazing drumming in this album is to mention. The drum work here is absolutely essential to what makes this album so damn good and catchy. Despite my lack of knowledge about drum work, I can recognize that this drummer clearly knows what he is doing. Drums are powerful and go hand in hand with guitar and vocals well, creating an incredibly headbang worthy joyride no matter the tempo. The vocals featured on this album aren't horrifically noteworthy, but they are good. No death growls here, but instead a nice raspy screaming that keeps in groove with the instruments smoothly, packing just the right punch.

A particularly noteworthy song is "I Wanna Be Somebody", which features the tempo of a rock song and the sound of metal, yet still pleases every which way. Another great one is "Inanna", which is an instrumental song that features some incredibly nice guitar work and really shows off how well this band has got it down. By far my favorite track on the album is a song called "Tears", pummeling the listener with powerful melody and harsh vocals at a tempo that is more than likely to please and drum work that is absolutely the best on the album. The best part of the song is the guitar sections that completely fill the ears with absolute melodic bliss.

Overall, this album is one of the best debut albums I've ever heard. Immediately Gates of Ishtar hits the Swedish scene with some absolutely groovy and melodic death metal that seriously deserves a listen by any lover of the genre. There is clearly a great degree of skill here, and this album is a must listen.

Anybody who’s ever heard the Gothenburg take on melodic death metal knows full well the limitations of the style and how easy it is to be burnt out after hearing just a few of the albums that are supposedly representative of the subgenre. Bands like Dark Tranquility and Soilwork are poor examples followed all too often, with In Flames probably being the death knell for anyone wishing to look deeper into the style. Surely there was something coming out of Sweden in the mid-90’s that wasn’t complete sugar-laced horseshit, right? Well thankfully there was, Gate of Ishtar being among a small cadre of quality musicians whose work is far less celebrated than their commercially successful peers but who added a touch of class to melodic death without castrating the heavy metal at its core.

The Gates of Ishtar sound is not unique; they’re certainly on the more melodic side of Swedish death metal. But it’s the Gates of Ishtar presentation that convinces the listener to give them a more serious approach than your typical cut-and-paste Gothenburgers. Theirs is an unpretentious, almost nonchalant take on the genre, as if the band were saying to the listeners “yeah, we didn’t invent this stuff, but since we’re going to play it anyway, we might as well do a damn good job with it.” Their attack is minimalistic, consisting of constant riffage (sans frills) with variant but battering drum accompaniment and not a whole lot else, save the rasped vocals and occasional lead bits. There’s less in the way of stock Maiden melodies and more in the way of harmonized tremolo riffs, some of which wouldn’t look out of place on an early Gorgoroth album had different equipment been utilized. The songs lean toward the shorter side (the whole album is only about 32 minutes long) and this brevity keeps the formula from becoming stale in light of the lack of experimentation. Indeed, only the title track briefly attempts to expand the sonic landscape with keyboard and clean accompaniment. Everything else is no-nonsense melody-infused death metal; yeah seriously, there’s virtually no screwing around with this stuff.

All this is enhanced by a clear, even production that highlights nothing…and therefore highlights everything, while maintaining an older sound (in terms of death metal anyway). Lamentably, they end the album with a W.A.S.P. cover they couldn’t possibly do justice. Otherwise it’s a worthwhile excursion into an oft-maligned (and oft-rightly so) genre whose true gems will probably never gain the exposure they deserve. And hey, if you dig this one, they have two more CDs that are almost as good.

It’s mid 90s. The melodic death metal was growing in the northern lands, especially in Sweden. In Flames were already famous and produced good albums, while new bands were growing like mushrooms in a wood and among these ones we could find Gates of Ishtar too. Their style, at least in their debut, wasn’t yet so definite and clear. They embraced also a lot of influences from another famous band in that period: Dissection.

You can see it also from the titles of the songs and, mostly, you can listen to it in the music. The intro is a good guitars duet in Iron Maiden style with the heaviness of the death oriented distortion. A perfect introduction for one of the greatest tracks here, “Where Winds of Darkness Blows”. Here the Dissection influences are preponderant on the fast parts where the riffage is colder, alternated to sad melodies. The following “The Silence” is even heavier with blast beats and sudden cold and excellent lead guitars parts.

The fast sections are full of lead parts with the aggression of the rhythmic guitars. These parts are full of open chord riffs to create a really devastating and cold atmosphere. This sound is able to recreate perfectly the winter storms. The vocals are mostly black metal oriented with shrieks and this is another point in which we can reflect about the influences. There is always the perfect blend of melodic death metal with melodic black metal passages.

“Tears” is a bit calmer in the tempo, showing good, alternating riffs and truly sad melodies. Here the traditional metal plays the most important part with those guitars duets and the melodic solos which are mostly concentrated on the central part. Another slow song is “The Dreaming Glade” where they throw the fundaments for bands like Skyming and Divine Souls. The riffs are slow, meditative with lots of sad melodies and the arpeggios of the electric guitars.

“When Daylight’s Gone” is a bit more impulsive for the use of some parts on blast beats and slowly bring us to the third and last part of the album that is characterized by a bit faster songs, that anyway, don’t forget about the lead guitars work and the melody that comes along. The sadness and the coldness these songs are able to transmit is something great. The solos are perfect and truly evocative while the rhythmic section is always precise.

The final title track is again characterized by frozen tremolo picking for the guitars and sudden blast beats. This time the Dissection influences are truly dominating, also during the fast bass drum parts. The production itself is great because never too clean but perfect and truly icy. The use of some keyboards sounds and the melodic arpeggios always sends me chills everywhere. All in all, a forgotten classic in a period of growth for the melodic death metal scene in Sweden and a jewel to rediscover for its pureness and sincerity.

So, somebody tell me, why doesn't anyone ever talk about these guys? For all the complaining about Gothenburg clones, people really don't seem to dig too far to find what's beneath the surface. Gates of Ishtar is a melodic death metal band from Sweden, who started back in the mid-ninties (sounds like every other band, right?) Two of the band members' names even share at least part of it with another member from Dark Tranquillity. But, that's where the real similarities ends and the music starts.

Drawing influences from all across the board, from Darkthrone style black metal to punk (I'm serious here) to thrash, Gates of Ishtar forged ahead and blazed a new path that many bands would follow in the footsteps of.
So then, you ask 'why should I go looking for that stuff when I can go buy the new Children of Bodom with sparklign production at Tower records?'
Because this is the stuff that started it all. And, in this reviewer's humble opinion, it's better. Lacking the commercialism or the over the top mixing of their future cohorts, Gates of Ishtar have presented us with a gritty and emotional debut, filled with quality song after quality song. That's these guys' MO- consistanty. Though there may be faster more brutal versions of this style, there's what can only be described as more soul to A Bloodred Path and the following two albums release before the band's break up after their third release. Headbangers, grooves, straight up thrashers, the full blown death metal assault, it's all here.

Overall, if you like original and highly melodic death metal, you may not think this is it, but it's almost ten years old, remember, and what better way to listen to Gothenburg than to listen to some of the first? And upon second listening, and each thereafter, you will hear more and more what makes these guys the underground (but still underappreciated) cult icon they are.