Revelations: Gatekeeper

Swedish hard rockers Revelations delivered their first-ever full-length album earlier this year. It’s called Gatekeeper, and it’s a dark, heavy worship of hard rock and heavy metal’s past. The band cites Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden as key influences, and you definitely hear that on Gatekeeper, but there are also nods to Thin Lizzy, Uriah Heep and even Candlemass.

As you might expect from a Sabbath-inspired band, thick, heavy riffs dominate this album. Those riffs (courtesy of Anders Stafren) pair well with Lasse Gudmundsson’s gruff and powerful vocals. The band moves from upbeat rockers like “Disillusion” and the Thin Lizzy-ish “Shooting Angels” to heavier, doom metal-worthy monsters like “Son of Morning” and “Grip of Darkness” (such a great Solitude Aeternus/Candlemass vibe there) with ease, and the steady, heavy rhythms and overall dark and spooky atmosphere tie the whole thing together.

Gatekeeper is a really solid, really fun album with a strong old school rock and metal vibe. Revelations has a sound that’s close enough to those classic bands but just different enough from the endless Sabbath-throwback bands out there. Not that fans of bands like Kadavar, Graveyard and Gentlemen’s Pistols won’t find a lot to love here. If you like your rock heavy, dark and old school, Gatekeeper is an album you’ll want to hear.