Bands don’t often sound so sure of what they want their music to sound like on their debut album as Dolmen Gate does on ‘Gateways of Eternity’. The Portuguese quintet combines an epic heavy metal sound with surprisingly sharp, concise songwriting, exuding a confidence that isn’t commonly heard on a first album. Fortunately, that confidence is deserved, as ‘Gateways of Eternity‘ is nothing short of excellent. It sounds pleasantly and familiarly old school without leaning too heavily into discernible influences. The music has a unique, otherwordly feel that goes a long way in giving Dolmen Gate its own distinct character.

Dolmen Gate was born out of the ashes of Ravensire, which bassist Nuno and drummer Alex were a part of. While the riffing on ‘Gateways of Eternity’ is cut from the same cloth as that of Ravensire, the medieval atmosphere that ocassionally made Ravensire feel like a more uptempo version of Solstice is nowhere near as prominent with Dolmen Gate. In addition, the fairly unique vocals of singer Ana have a haunting quality that gives the music a more dreamy feel overall than the old school heavy metal riffs and the largely melancholic lead guitar themes alone would have done.

While the tempos on ‘Gateways of Eternity’ are generally relatively subdued, Dolmen Gate doesn’t quite cross over into doom metal territory as much as many of their peers seem to do. The overall sound on the album – not just compositionally, sonically as well – does seem to suggest that most of Dolmen Gate’s influences predate the actual doom metal moniker. However, the band nimbly manages to avoid the pitfalls of a largely mid-tempo album by injecting as much variation as possible into the melodies and time feels of the songs, making ‘Gateways of Eternity’ a joy to listen to in one sitting.

Anyone curious about Dolmen Gate’s sound probably will be best off starting with the relatively uptempo ‘Chambers of Magic’ or the powerful opener ‘Rest in Flames’, as they are the most accessible examples of what the band is capable of. What ‘Gateways of Eternity’ does really well, however, is gradually build up towards the more epic material near the end of the album. The nearly eight-minute-long closing track ‘Betrayal’ is a perfect example of how the band can mix up atmospheres and use space to their advantage, and it features some of Ana’s best vocal performances on the album. The relatively doomy ‘Retribution’ and the beautifully melancholic ‘Horizon’s Call’ do a great job setting up that song as well.

Sometimes it’s hard to put your finger on just why an album impresses you as much as it does. Such is the case for me with ‘Gateways of Eternity’. The late seventies and early eighties throwback of modern bands often doesn’t work for me. What I think it is here, however, is that Dolmen Gate took a bunch of small elements from what they liked out of that era and tried to shape it into something of their own. Having such excellent songwriters and a singer with such a hypnotizing voice among your ranks certainly helps as well. Possibly the best debut album of the year so far.

Recommended tracks: ‘Rest in Flames’, ‘Betrayal’, ‘Chambers of Magic’