Review: Twelfth Gate

Twelfth Gate
“Summoning”
(Crash Music)

Following in the foot steps of such progressive metal acts as Helstar, John Arch era Fates Warning, Agent Steel and even newer comers Seven Witches comes Twelfth Gate and they build on the rock solid progressive metal foundations very nicely.  The house that Twelfth Gate has built is a proud house indeed.  Possessing a dynamically thunderous rhythm section helps them keep the intensity level turned up to twelve and allows front man Huffman to perform his wide ranging vocal magic and gives the guitar the breathing room for extra blasts of diversity.

This group of mid-westerners (from Chicago, IL) does their genre justice without directly ripping any of their forebears off. The riffs are catchy; the drum beats head bangable (is that a word, “bangable?”) and the atmosphere created by the songs isn’t as gaseous and illusory as are many lesser skilled bands of Twelfth Gate’s ilk.  This is the band’s debut record and with a debut like this they ought to be tearing up the stage at Wacken in no time.  Good stuff not to be missed by anyone into progressive metal.