I knew this «Fire, Walk With Me» wasn’t for me right after looking to the band’s pic: big car and almost naked pin-ups had never been my cup of tea. VII Gates are pure heavy metal coupled with some hard rock elements. Prepare to be catapulted some twenty years ago with this one. Band’s main influence seems to be «Point Of Entry» or «Screaming For Vengeance» from Priest and singer Criss Blackburn can scream and sing such as the old Rob. Some Maiden-esque influences are also perceptible in a song such as «Seconds Left To Live» for instance. Surprisingly and even if I’m unable to find interest in nowadays heavy metal copycats, «Fire, Walk With Me» (D. Lynch fans?) sounds better than most of the genre productions. The keyboard parts add some progressive touches to the band’s heavy metal and vocals are way better than the usual high-pitched screamers. I still don’t really see the reason to add ballads in metal music (here the ultra foreseeable «So Far Away»), but that is definitely a personal thing. Music for nostalgic but of a superior quality mainly according to nowadays standards.
Patricia

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