It seems like only yesterday that the Danish progressive metal band Anubis Gate first came onto my personal radar. But, as it turns out, it was well over a decade ago. I can't rightly remember how I first heard about them, though most likely someone from the little community on YouTube that I frequented back in the day recommended them to me. At that time, Anubis Gate only had four studio albums, the most recent of which was The Detached (2009) and it would have been that album and the prior Andromeda Unchained (2007) - both concept albums – that first took my interest, not knowing just how special this band was going to prove themselves to be, not just then, but in the years to follow.
There have been some changes in Anubis Gate over these years, with the band line-up being reduced to four by the time of their fifth album, the self-titled Anubis Gate (2011) and then seeing line-up changes on Horizons (2014), a move which technically left them with no original members, as Henrik Fevre (vocals, bass) and Kim Olesen (guitars, keyboards), though mainstays of Anubis Gate, were only guest musicians/writers on the debut album Purification (2004). The modern line-up is completed by Michael Bodin (guitars) and Morten Gade Sørensen (drums), who is not to be confused with original drummer Morten Sørensen, who, along with original guitarist Jesper M. Jensen, departed the band in 2012. Jesper M. Jensen sadly passed away in 2020. Interference (2023), the band's ninth studio album, is dedicated to his memory.
Interference is also Anubis Gate's first album of original material since Covered in Black (2017). Between these two albums they did also release Covered in Colours (2020), however, so it's not like they've been idle. Their covers record turned out to be one of the best such albums I'd ever heard, really throwing their own take on a number of songs originally from different genres of music and throwing the Anubis Gate touch at them. It sounded like an Anubis Gate album, as if they'd wrote it themselves. Not the easiest of achievements for any act when dealing with covers. But the real excitement for their fans is what many will feel is the true follow-up to Covered in Black, Interference. The burning question is, was it worth the wait?
Yes.
I actually somewhat want to leave this review at that. Yes. No other words needed. Just yes. But I guess I ought to actually talk about the record itself as well as give a history lesson for newcomers to the band, who perhaps aren't as sold by that simple answer as anyone familiar with their music may be. So let's be clear about something regarding this album: it's the kind of record that is that good it makes me want to reevaluate if Anubis Gate's previous releases were actually as good as they always seemed. They're a band I have consistently had cause to review with high scores and I consider the two concept albums to be among the best progressive metal albums ever made, with several others from their discography hardly lagging behind them. But then they go and release this and it's so next level good that it breaks the rating system. I was floored by how good Anubis Gate were when I first heard then over a decade ago, this little known Danish band whose records were bloody hard to get a hold of due to the apparent bankruptcy of their then record label Locomotive Records, but as with most artists, you don't really get back that first time wow factor. Well, Anubis Gate just managed to make that happen to me once again with Interference. Wow.
Even after only taking the first exploratory spin of the album, I felt like my jaw had hit the floor like a cartoon character's does. Naturally I always expect an Anubis Gate album to be excellent, but I found myself unprepared for this one all the same. Interference is easily the most out and out progressive release Anubis Gate have yet made, yet it also has a slightly less polished production sound, giving the guitars a heavier edge than much of their work, while still of course retaining the melodic sensibility that they are known for. There are ten tracks in all and the songs are a mix between shorter and longer durations. The band have brought back some of the speedy power metal influences that had slacked off on Covered in Black so there's some real fast and aggressive sections in some songs. Henrik Fevre remains in great melodic voice, with some additional harsher vocals provided by Kim Olesen.
I truly find it a difficult album to say really all that much about how it actually sounds. Words written about it never do great music justice. What I can say is that I had listened to it a half dozen times before even contemplating this review and it lost nothing in its impact. I also went through the entire back catalogue of Anubis Gate and there isn't one among them that Interference doesn't stack up against or betters. I have long counted The Detached as their finest work and one of my all time favourite albums, so I have some bias there that's not easy to set aside, but the gut feeling down down is that Anubis Gate may have outdone themselves this time. For 2023 it is without a doubt an Album of the Year contender. It's hard to believe really, after all this time since I first heard them, that they remain relatively unknown, with their back catalogue remaining hard to get physical copies of to this day. Even Interference itself is only being released in a limited quantity of CDs. Get in there and get one already!