Band:	Mysticalgate
Album:	In Sadness Gloom
Style:	Doom metal, Progressive metal
Release date:	2004
A review by:	Undercraft

01. Intro
02. There Stones Weeping Somewhere
03. Then Only Rain Can Hide My Tears
04. Long For The Sun...
05. Long For The Stars...
06. No Mirror Illusion Can Stop Making You Weak
07. Gloom
08. Fling The Doors Open Wide. Let Wind

I've come to a conclusion, Russia has a LOT of unknown Metal bands, being a big country, they spawn many Metal bands, sadly they don't get the proper support and distribution, therefore, every release passes by unnoticed to the rest of the world. Same is the case in Brazil and other big countries that aren't part of the usual channels of distribution and promotion of labels.

Mysticalgate is a Russian band, and this is their debut album after a couple of Demos back in the nineties, why does the band decides to record an album almost 10 years after their Demo? Because this album was originally recorded back in 1996 and it was supposed to be released by Undead Wood Production, sadly the label closed activities back then and the band ceased activities for a while. In the beginning of 2004 Russian Label Stygian Crypt Productions signed a contract with Mysticalgate to release "In Sadness Gloom?" and finally, the long awaited release is here.

The band doesn't play the ultra slow pounding funeral Doom, neither does plays the weepy "I'm sooo sad" Doom, they play a rather interesting variation, the music is not slow, neither fast, most of the album is mid paced, vocals are guttural with the addition of the usual shriek here and there. The band relies in the keyboards to give the proper atmosphere to the music. As a matter of fact, the keyboards are the best asset of the band, they give the necessary amount of melancholy and sadness to the music, resulting in a depressing and gloomy album.

Songs are very lengthy, each clocking around 9 minutes and more, the band expresses their dejected feelings with ease through the songs, trust me, they don't get boring.
My only problem with the album is the vocals, I don't really like them because I don't find a low guttural voice depressing at all, maybe a variation of the voice or inclusion of other alternatives (clean vocals, female vocals) could spice things up.

Production is not the best I've heard but this was recorded back in 1996, so is pretty decent after all, cover art and booklet design is impressive, great work with that.
At the end we have a sad, depressive album filled with gloomy tunes and melancholic pieces, Doom fans should check this one out.