Bullet Ride - At the Gates of Hell Review

Ok, I don’t deny it. I pick albums for the tittle and for the band’s na’sme. In this very specific case it was both. I liked the name of the band and the album tittle. Here we’ve got a vigorous European Power Metal with some slight dashes of Symphonic Metal and some modern features as the vocal duet witha a harsher voice. More importantly, Bullet Ride have female vocals. The more charming, she has a French accent that gives the songs that needed spice to make a band stand out. I say that because accents are generally very different to get. The singing kind of hides accents. A fun fact is that insterestingly sometimes Emmanuelle Dal Grande’s vocals sound to be a little out of tune and that gives even more charm to the songs. “Dead and Back” may give my dear fan a hint of it. I guess when the singing is clean the odds to show the accent is slightly higher. Guttural vocals have a tendency to hide them better.

When I said European Power Metal I meant that Power Metal that is more vigorous than Heavy Metal with faster songs and faster guitar riffing. Sometimes some guitar duets to give the song some more melody. “At the Gates of Hell” is a great example of an album that bounces to the speed of Speed Metal and the power of Power Metal – redundant, huh? Truely, this album meets the middle of both 1980s Metal most known and appreciated styles. Blind Guardian may suit it very well. The ballad “All At Sea” is another great example that melody and finess can go hand-by-hand to some fury and ferocity. 1980s driven Metal bands are totally great on writing ballads. The best ballads ever were writeen by 1980s Metal bands. Pick the example you want my dear fan.

I totally understand the difficulties bands have to stand out these days when everything about Metal music seems to have been tried. Perhaps, the answer to the future is in the past. I’ve said that before. Most of “At the Gates of Hell’s” features belong to the good old 1980’s Power Metal. However there are some details – remember, the devil is in the details – that, let’s say, update their music. A part of the charm Bullet Ride comes from there.

Bullet Ride “At the Gates of Hell” was released on January 21st via Music Records.

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