Denmark’s progressive metal masters Anubis Gate seem to be unable to do much wrong. With an absolutely stellar discography, including the band’s astounding breakthrough release Andromeda Unchained, I can’t help but be in awe of this particular outfit. The band’s penchant for creating consistently high quality material continues on their newest, self titled album, and they show no signs of letting up.

Despite the loss of their superb original vocalist Jacob Hansen, the group has returned stronger than ever, with bassist Henrick Fevre taking over vocal duties, having sung backing and occasional lead vocals during live settings in recent years. The introductory “Hold Back Tomorrow” is a marvelously catchy piece, with an effective, highly memorable chorus that showcases Fevre’s talents. Filling Hansen’s shoes is a tough job, and while by no means is Fevre on the same level, he is in his own right a skilled, emotive singer, and fits in naturally with the new material. “The Reformation Show,” and “Facing Down” are fairly typical, head bobbing melodic progressive tracks, and while not as solid as the intro, they move the album along at a pleasing pace. “World In A Dome” shakes up the formula significantly with some interesting sound effects, and some strange  (in a good way) vocal melodies that must be heard. The chorus, like most of the album, is excellent.

“Desiderio Omnibus” is the heaviest song on the record, and begins with some staggering, punch in the mouth guitars and highly technical, powerful drums. There are some awesome uses of layered vocals the serve as the song’s main hook. Additionally, the lead guitar work towards the mid-point are deliciously catchy, with a shredding, but not self-indulgent guitar solo that is the highlight of the song.  “Oh My Precious Life” is the closest thing to a filler on the album, as although it has some fun, dark riffs, there aren’t really any noticeable hooks that draw the listener in. “Golden Days” is a slow burn, and is probably the most keyboard drenched, cheesy ballad like affair on the album. There are some triumphant, sing along, multi-layered vocals, and the lyrics are very positive about human potential and similarly themed concepts. “Telltale Eyes” starts with some very Scandinavian melodic heavy metal guitars, with thrashy percussion and even a few borderline breakdown styled passages. Throw in some pulsing electro synth moments and you are left with one of the more strange, even out of pace tracks.

“River” is a totally unnecessary and out of context, short instrumental that preceeds the final track. “Circumstances,” the token epic  that every progressive metal album has, begins with an ethereal, soft keyboard passage, followed by a sort of spacey, funky guitar line that backs some of Fevre’s more interesting vocal melodies. This is a very passionate song to say the least, although it does not seem to have enough compelling material for its length. Production wise, the album is pretty much what one would expect a high profile progressive metal band; clear, pristine, heavy, with every single instrument audible and powerful at all times. I think they could have backed up a bit on the keyboards and relegated them to a bit more of an atmospheric role, but I seem to say this about a lot of bands. Anubis Gate have crafted yet another solid slice of progressive metal, and though it won’t change the mind of any naysayers, fans of the band and the genre will be more than satisfied.