adg211288 When Eternity Ends (2012) is the debut full-length album by German heavy metal act Sacred Gate. The band’s only prior release is the EP Creators of the Downfall (2011). While Sacred Gate comes branded as a heavy/power metal act the music on When Eternity Ends doesn’t contain very much of the latter at all, being very much based in traditional heavy metal. Some of the members got their start in a group called Made of Iron, which began as an Iron Maiden cover band. It’s no surprise then that Sacred Gate’s brand of heavy metal has some eighties flavourings about it.

And of course, there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Sacred Gate may not be the most original or inventive traditional metal act going, but they clearly know how to write a decent heavy metal track, which is the main thing these days. What strikes me the most about their music though is how much room to grow the band still has at this stage in their career. The potential is evident; in Jim Over the band has a competent lead vocalist who delivers the songs with an energetic style, and whose vocals have a little bit of a rough edge to set him apart from the most melodic of metal vocalist, and melody wise guitarist Nicko Nikolaidis produces some very good lines and solos alike. The riffs on the other hand are in general a little unremarkable, although they do the job well enough in order to carry the vocals so that complaint is not as major as it may first appear.

But what does hold When Eternity Ends back a little for me is that although Sacred Gate has an enjoyable sound, I do think they need to do a little more with it before they’re producing exceptional material. When it comes to traditional heavy metal, I don’t need bands to break the mould but for them to keep my attention fully I need them to produce killer track after killer track on an album. While there are indeed killer songs to be found during When Eternity Ends such as The Realm of Hell, In the Heart of the Iron Maiden and the title track, not all the songs are up to that same standard. On the other hand there are no outright duds either, simply songs that do stand out as well as those that can be set aside as the album’s clear highlights.

All in all Sacred Gate have produced a solid debut album in When Eternity Ends. While this won’t be counted among my favourite traditional metal albums of the year it’s a satisfactory debut album from the band for which a great album tier rating is just about deserved. I’ll be fully expecting these guys to hone their craft for their next release though since the album shows Sacred Gate to be very much on the right track.

7.6/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))