Ageless Gateway doesn’t sound like a band that showed up to play Black Metal just to make noise and call it a day. Their debut album goes into much murkier territory: Atmospheric Black Metal built on a Death/Doom Metal foundation that drags everything down, while the guitars create a pretty sick sense of cosmic emptiness.
There’s something peculiar about the way they turn Black Metal into this huge, spacey mass, with echoes of that feeling when the structures start to sound less earthly and more alien. Ageless Gateway is less cerebral and more oppressive, but if you take it to the more extreme side, it can still create a seriously suffocating atmosphere.
What makes it interesting is that it doesn’t rely on speed alone. The riffs have plenty of weight, there are some good changes in dynamics, and a lot of space between the layers. The song almost feels like an infection slowly spreading instead of something that attacks you right away.
If you enjoy acts like Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omega, Grave Miasma and if you’re into Atmospheric Black Metal, cavernous Death Metal, and bands that make a guitar sound like it’s transmitting signals from somewhere we definitely shouldn’t be, Ageless Gateway deserves a serious listen.
