Vienna's Gates of Londra, the union of J.M (Brånd, Weathered Crest, Eisenhand...) and R.F (Parasite Dreams, Peace Vaults...) gave us one of the most impressive releases of 2022. It was definitely one of my most played releases of last year due to its short length but also the high quality of its musical content and the various influences contained into such a judiciously compact package.
After a demo rooted mostly in raw black metal, the duo has expanded their formula to include everything but the kitchen sink. Their black metal core is augmented by industrial, post punk/deathrock, dungeon synth and uh, probably other things I’m forgetting right now but rest assured, it's there. Most importantly, it all works together to create a cohesive experience. It has this charming epic approach mixed with a do it yourself attitude and a love for fantasy and synths.
Their themes are important to the whole thing as well, it’s all about the writing of champion Michael Moorcock, the second most popular fantasy writer after Tolkien for metal bands. They had to be different from their older brothers of Summoning somehow (even if yes, I know Moorcock is present in Silenius and Protector’s works). Let’s be frank here, a black metal duo with synths singing about fantasy and from Austria? You could consider them a clone before listening to them. In the end, it’s very different in how it sounds and it’s presented. It’s brief bursts of insanity intertwined with soothing, video game atmospheric moody music (check out the outro) and that’s like combining The Elder Scrolls with late 70s, early 80s British post punk. It’s very idiosyncratic and just straight up very interesting. The presence of samples of old fantasy men talking (I don’t know the sources, possibly audiobooks of Moorcock's Hawkmoon?) adds another layer of odd details that I loved. Never enough grand speeches done by wizards, not gonna lie.
The synths are in your face but the acerbic guitars are as well, it’s a good combination of the two and there’s good riffs on Servants of the Runestaff. The drumming is a drum machine and it adds to the repetitiveness and industrial feels of the album, I find it enjoyable. It’s geeky but also quite powerful and robust in some way. Similar to Elric of Melniboné and other eternal champions, I guess!
Gates of Londra is not gonna be for everyone but I do think black metal is in a super innovative era right now and it’s fun to see bands go wild like they do. It’s not just the mixing of influences, it goes beyond that. It’s mixing the old and the new, the metal with the non-metal with ease and precision while maintaining a raw and distinctive feel.
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