A Perfect Forever

With Purification, Anubis Gate was born, but with A Perfect Forever we see the band utilize more ideas and aim a little higher, resulting in a crucial evolutionary stage in the band's history. This is still not the crystalline power prog behemoth they would become, but the spectacular display of delights brought to the table in this far-reaching release remains staggering. The result is a record that, while not being a significant departure, still feels as if it were crafted by the same band that would make The Detached four years later; and I couldn't say that for Purification.

The guitar tone on A Perfect Forever is their thickest ever, which helps when they create pulse-pounding rhythms. Of course, Anubis Gate has never really been about the sheer riff content. Their sublime quality lies within the atmosphere, an integral aspect of each of the band's albums. The same is true of this one. Things are a bit "brighter" here than on the brooding and decidedly doomy Purification, but the emotional depth and volume of the piece has not suffered. If anything, A Perfect Forever is aided by it. This feeling is probably created by the subtle use of synths and electronic elements, an aspect of the group that would become the basis for their later masterworks. They find a compellingly organic middle ground between heaviness and airy melody, between straightforward songwriting and technicality, and between the dark and the light.

The songs are (predictably) spot on, condensing an eternal spring of artistic brilliance into 5-7 minute intervals. This album may contain the band's strongest one-two punch ever with "Sanctified" and "Kingdom Come." Within thirty seconds of the album's beginning, the listener is greeted with one of the most beauteous riffs the world has ever known, a melodic spiral replete with optimism and energy. At this point in "Sanctified" it should be clear that something special is in store for us. "Kingdom Come" is the most accessible piece here, and the shortest of the actual songs. That excellent (and almost AOR-carved) chorus is reminiscent of Pagan's Mind's recent effort, Heavenly Ecstasy; even Askholm almost sounds like a lower-pitched Nils K. Rue here. It's a simple track that excels on its few fronts. Some more notable moments on the record's first half include the strong Egyptian influence of "Future Without Past" and Henrik Fevre's higher-register vocals on the verses of "Curfew."

My favorite song from the latter half of A Perfect Forever is "Epitome of Delusion," a lighter track that builds into one of the catchiest damn choruses I've ever heard. Add that to the fact that the song contains what is probably Askholm's best performance, and this becomes another huge winner. The album concludes with the title track, a 12 minute escapade that's no where near as challenging as you'd think. The structure is basically one composition surgically inserted into another; the first part does its thing, then the second, and after a long instrumental break, the refrain from the first part is played again to remind you that it's really just one song. It doesn't feel quite like an epic should, and the first part is surprisingly weak, but the refrain of the second phase of the piece is so good that it makes the song worth sitting through. The lyrics evoke true importance through each and every word.

"In the safety of our homes
A perfect forever
In the closeness of dear ones
A perfect forever
Somewhere in the future
A perfect forever
Our proudest structures fall
Nothing stands forever
But I’d like to be proven wrong"

In case you still haven't gotten the memo, Anubis Gate is here to stay, crafting visions you could otherwise only experience in your wildest dreams. It could be argued exactly what style of music the band has played during its two eras, but the only important and ever-apparent detail is that it has always been intelligent and moving. Their entire discography is one you can't afford to miss, and last time I checked, A Perfect Forever is a part of their discography, so what are you waiting for?

(http://metallicfaithimmortal.blogspot.com/)

Progressive metal is one of those styles of music that is pretty easy love, but almost impossible to like. Despite basically throwing in a little bit of everything from the various styles out there that people tend to gravitate towards, no one can listen to it casually. In the same respect, not many people within the older guard of the power metal faithful can gravitate to the eclecticism of power/progressive acts like “Communic” and “Pagan’s Mind”, be it because of the over-intellectualizing of the lyrics, or the fact that so many of these bands completely depart from the formulaic nature of the simpler side of their genre hybrid and also incorporate a host of contrary styles at varying intervals.

It all depends on which side of the coin that the band tends to lean towards and how much the band elects to deviate from a symmetrically structured approach. In the case of Anubis Gate’s sophomore release “A Perfect Forever”, a lot of the criticisms levied at others that play in their genre don’t really apply. People will often point to the overuse of keyboards as something that takes away from the aggression that would otherwise be adequate for most not already amongst the parochial orders in the extreme genres of black, death and thrash metal. But on the vast majority of these songs the drive is towards riffs and guitar work, as the band only employs keyboards for atmospheric enhancement at a few key points, while simultaneously avoiding getting too heavy on off kilter guitar effects and processing, which often makes some progressive acts sound extremely industrial.

The most important aspect of power metal is the hooks, as it is what makes the genre so popular and so accessible to people that don’t have the taste for either technical feats and extremely involved and endlessly developing melodies. “Approaching Inner Circle” actually comes close to completely leaving the progressive realm and throws out this really catchy chorus and a series of simple melodic ideas that Dream Theater likely would not have bothered with during their earlier era, which is what most power/progressive acts tend to imitate. “Epitome Of Delusion” sports a pretty hard edged riff that might bring back of memories of Crimson Glory, though with a bit of mixed meter manipulation to distort the listener’s sense of center. It settles into a really catchy mid paced flowing set of verses that are quite easy to follow.

One area where they fall in to the typical cliché of their genre is that they put all of their best ideas into the ending song on the album. Basically if it applied to anything remotely pertaining to melodic and progressive variants on the metal style, “A Perfect Forever” has a little bit of it thrown in there. If you like easy going acoustic and electric sections similar to what might be heard on an early 90s Fates Warning album, this has a couple. If you like slow and gloomy doom riffs over a set of atmospheric keyboard background, there’s at least 2 or 3 Sabbath inspired riffs for any takers. And of course, there are a few really catchy chorus sections, consonant chord progressions, and even a couple of well placed guitar solos. The lead player for this band actually reminds me heavily of former Freedom Call and current Helloween axe man Sascha Gershner, particularly that loose sound tone and wandering usage of scale runs and melodic fragments.

Ultimately if you’re a person who likes hooks but can deal with songs that throw a lot of twists in between them, this will agree with your ears. It’s less of a keyboard oriented band than Pagan’s Mind, and doesn’t get really heavy on technique. There is definitely a discernable structure to it all that can be followed, though it takes a bit more effort than your average 80s band. It may not win over all of the detractors of the genre, but I can see this being more than just fodder for the cult fans of Dream Theater.