Ivory Gates - Shapes Of Memory
Year of Release: 2001
Label: Megahard
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 00:00:00Ivory Gates was formed back in 2000 by bassist Hugo Mazzotti (ex-Mystical Warning) and guitarist Matheus Armelin (Freehand). After writing the majority of Shapes Of Memory, they hooked up with drummer Fabricio Felix and brought in vocalists Miguel Pupin and Verusca Camillo to complete the line-up.
Two vocalists you say? Yes, that is correct. This band is actually fronted by a male and female singer. This is quite common in the Goth genre, but in this case we are talking progressive metal in the vein of Fates Warning, Queensryche, Dream Theater, Rush etc. With two singers to front a prog metal band, Ivory Gates immediately caught my interest. For the most part both vocalists stay in the mid-to-high register and they do a good job. Even the duets between them work very well. It is Miguel Pupin (the male singer if you couldn't tell) that sings lead and whilst he delivers a solid performance, he occasionally sounds a bit strained reaching for the really high notes. But this is just me quibbling and it only happens a couple of times, so it should not bother you too much.
The music flips between mid-paced songs and a couple more darker, slow paced songs. The song-writing and instrumentation is of a high standard and out of the 7 tracks on offer, only one fails to attract me. Most songs work great with lots of interesting themes, variation and strong melody-lines. The production is pretty good, but lacks a sparkle to top it all off.
From what I have heard of Brazilian prog metal bands, and there are many of them, Ivory Gates is definitely among the better ones. Although the CD is full of good music that should appeal to most progressive metal fans, they still have a little to go before they can compete with the best within the genre. Having that said, Ivory Gates has released a strong CD that is well worth checking out and for a debut, Shapes Of Memory boils over with potential.
Similar bands: Fates Warning, Dream Theater
[This review originally appeared November 2002 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]
Tracklisting:
Through The Ivory Gate (1:36) / Unchained (9:04) / The Witness (9:00) / Masquerade (6:29) / Transcendence (8:30) / Images Reflected (5:41) / What I Believe (12:40)
Musicians:
Miguel Puppin - vocals
Mattheus Armelin - guitar
Fabricio Felix - drums
Hugo Mazzotti - bass
Veruska Camillo - vocals
Guest:
Brian Charles ? keyboards
Discography:
Shapes Of Memory (2000)
Genre: Progressive-Power Metal
Origin BR
Added: January 1st 2005
Reviewer: Bjørnar Bevolden
Score:
Hits: 3354
Language: english
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