Band:	Gillmore
Album:	Rigor Mortis Of Soul
Style:	Power metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	January 2008
A review by:	Bas

01. Sea Of Brutality
02. Farce Of Nature
03. Rigor Mortis Of Souls
04. Crucifictive
05. Under The Flag Of Blood

To be honest; I didn't really have high expectations for this CD. Not at all actually. I had listened to some of their samples on myspace before the CD arrived and I wasn't really impressed. Maybe the samples were rather inappropriate choices, or, more likely, I didn't give them the attention they actually deserved. In reality Rigor Mortis Of Soul is one of the more interesting releases I've heard so far this year.

Basically Gillmore are a power metal band. Leaving them with just the title "power metal" would be very inappropriate though. They're pretty hard to explain actually, so I'll just try to explain what they do with their music instead of throwing fancy expressions at you. The main focus of the music is the riffing. All the riffs on the entire EP are fairly basic, what makes them interesting though, is that some of them are typical power metal riffs, while others are typical thrash metal riffs, sometimes even touching on typical melodic death metal riffing. As to the vocals, for power metal they sound rather bland. The vocalist's range isn't all too wide, and for just power metal his voice doesn't seem to carry enough emotion. However in this band he fits very well, the good thing is, that his voice fits both to the power metal and thrash metal riffs in the background. Often his voice also takes on a rougher edge in the thrash metal parts of the music. Something in between singing and shouting. The drumming is rather slow most of the time, accompanies the rest of the music perfectly though and sets a nice rhythm, contrasting the riffs.

The keyboards are almost a chapter for themselves. First off, if you're not a fan of Stratovarius/Sonata Arctica - power metal, don't worry. This keyboardist here plays in an entirely different style. the keyboard is never used for setting any atmosphere, but it (almost) never "takes over" the music either if you get what I mean. It is usually used to create very short and simplistic melodies, usually kept in low tones and used every now and then, fades out again and reappears a short while later. In the end it sounds pretty interesting and gives the songs an extra layer so to speak, however I believe it isn't all too annoying either if you aren't a friend of this instrument.

I don't think there is much else to say about this music. In pretty much all of it's aspects it is kept rather simple, however the right mix of different simple things is what makes it very interesting to listen to. On one side it's very enjoyable and easy to listen to because of the multitude of nice riffs, on the other hand you (or I in any case) keep wondering what will come next. Another thrash metal riff? Another power metal chorus? A five seconds guitar solo? Perhaps a short keyboard melody in the background accompanying the rest of the music?

They say simplicity is the key to brilliance, this CD here might not be musical brilliance, but it has excellent song writing and is really nice to listen to. I'm sure I'll give it a spin every once in a while.

Recommended to all open-minded power, but also to all open-minded thrash and even melodic death metal fans. This could be one for everyone!