The back of Fire, Walk With Me, the debut from Sweden's VII Gates, features a photograph of the six band members lounging in a large convertible with three bikini-clad women draped across them and the car's hood. How very metal! And how very appropriate. VII Gates is not your typical power metal band. In fact, it bears more similarities to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal than to European power metal. Mick van Slowfoot's double-bass drumming isn't so overwhelming as to induce numbness (must have something to do with that last name), and the triple-guitar threat of Robert "Basti" Makek, JJ Rockford and Tim Diaz (who also plays keys) keeps these 10 songs in business. Of course, a diverse stable of guest guitarists like Kee Marcello (Europe), Chris Amott (Arch Enemy) and Tommy Denander (Radioactive) backing them up helps, too. Singer Criss Blackburn brings a sense of sleaze to the proceedings, and an anthem like "Under the Crossed Bones" is bound to net VII Gates fans both inside and outside of the progressive-metal world.
Track Listing:
1) Bounded by Hate
2) The Saviour
3) Seconds Left to Live
4) Under Crossed Bones
5) So Far Away
6) Tormented
7) Love Bullet
8) A Dark Room of My Mind
9) Like A Rock
10) The Madman Inside
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