Band:	Voices From Beyond
Album:	The Gates Of Madness
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	February 2010

01. Terror Screen
02. The Chosen
03. Voices From Beyond
04. Time Dream
05. The Cult Of Madness
06. Don't Change Your Mind
07. Day Of Rebirth
08. The Key Of Doom
09. Welcome You
10. From Beyond

Thrash metal/Heavy metal
Recorded: Fear Studio, Italy 2009
Label: SG Records
Total Running Time: 51:03


What year is it again?

Voices From Beyond are found on the path where Heavy metal meets Thrash. I'm obviously talking about the purest form of both genres; nothing overly modern/trendy/hip to catch here. With a bit of imagination, there's even a solid dose of speed metal allure to be tasted. But mostly, Voices From Beyond are just a vintage metal prototype band at heart. The band's sound is classic enough in such way that it at least seems they are kicking it old school.

The biggest issue detected is the vocal department. Especially the clean vocals aren't always that fitting, aren't always perfectly in tune, and are too often, well, too high. Also the funny English accent is at the same time as annoying as it is, uh, funny. It's like a bunch of pyromania setting a fire with a broken lighter; the idea may seem insanely amusing at first, but the whole thing gets pretty irritating in the end. Don't get me wrong, the vocal work isn't all that obnoxious, but especially the more high-pitched parts get indeed quite tiresome.

Talking about tiresome, the whole album has in fact a bit of a "are we there yet?" thing going on. To know for a fact that the music isn't exactly ultra-fresh to begin with, the band has too few striking elements and "surprises" up its sleeve to leave a deep impact on the listener.

You won't hear me say the band is too repetitive, but The Gates Of Madness isn't really a huge Hollywood story either. The album isn't the worst around, and a couple songs are definitely worth checking out (fe. the ones with the harsher vocals). More and so, The Gates Of Madness could be very well among the sub-par releases of the year so far. Though I do am left behind with a feeling Voices From Beyond could have done better.