It’s pretty much a regular reaction to be wary of bands that contain members that wear white contact lenses in promotional photo shoots, but rest assured that Plerom’s Gate are pretty damn great sounding. This Polish four-piece’s debut release is incredibly professional in both musicianship and production quality, melodically melding the likes of latter-day Behemoth with huge swathes of eastern and classical influence to make a refreshing concoction that gives them a distinct sound of their own.
The first three tracks of this five song ‘album’ all have a very spectacular sound, mixing blasting guitars, powerful harsh vocal work with huge sounding orchestral arrangements that absorb you into a mystic world filled with occultism, myth and legend. Opener ‘The Great Panspermia’ in particular, while taking a while to get started, mixes the aforementioned Behemoth with late-period Emperor so effortlessly in its sweeping riffs that it’s hard not to be impressed. Riffs spiral and twist dramatically over their awesome symphonic backing throughout, really taking me by surprise when I remind myself that this is the bands debut release.
Strangely, the forth track is a cover of Terrorizer’s ‘Dead Shall Rise’, which sticks out like a sore thumb as I’m sure you can imagine. Of course, it’s great track and a fairly faithful cover, but when mixed in amongst the grandiose feeling of the accompanying tracks, it just sounds out of place. The album ends with the most impressive sounding track ‘Rise to the Glory’, opening with a gentle instrumental piece resplendent with all the Dimmu-like pomp and ceremony you’d expect, before powering into a heroic chorus, mixing clean and harsh vocals for an epic finale. All in all, this is some magical metal from a completely unheard of band. With further promotion and more releases of a similar quality, they won’t be unheard of for long.
http://www.myspace.com/pleromsgate
