Last year, Portugal’s Dolmen Gate completely blew me away with their incredible debut album ‘Gateways of Eternity‘. No 2024 release had as many melodies that got stuck in my head seemingly randomly, even though catchy choruses aren’t necessarily the focus of Dolmen Gate’s epic heavy metal sound. Clearly the mark of some excellent songwriting. Unsurprisingly, ‘Echoes of Ancient Tales‘ was one of my most anticipated releases for this year. It does pretty much everything a good sophomore album should do: it further expands upon the foundation that the debut laid, whilst taking a few important step to develop the band even further.

Compared to ‘Gateways of Eternity‘, ‘Echoes of Ancient Tales’ makes a somewhat more contemporary-sounding first impression, which is mostly down to how the album is produced. Ana’s vocals, clearly one of the band’s most unique aspects, are pushed to the foreground a little more. As a result, she doesn’t sound quite as ethereal as on the debut, though her voice does retain its beautifully haunting, hypnotizing character. The guitars and drums also sound a bit tighter, giving the album less of a distinct late seventies vibe than its predecessor, though it all fits the compositional approach very well.

Dolmen Gate allows itself to branch out a little more on ‘Echoes of Ancient Tales’. The songs are slightly longer than those on ‘Gateways of Eternity’ on average, though admittedly, the fantastic, vaguely Bathory-esque opener ‘Souls to Sea’ does a lot of the heavy lifting there. It’s not even that much of a departure from what Dolmen Gate usually does, it just has what you could call a clear overture and epilogue attached. The highly dynamic closing track ‘We Are the Storm’ actually has a more pronounced epic heavy metal vibe, in that you can clearly hear the song move in sync with the story told in its lyrics musically.

Picking ‘The Maze’ as the album’s first single was a wise choice, as it is the most conventional heavy metal song, and the one closest to ‘Gateways of Eternity’ in style. Its chorus also makes it highly accessible. The intense ‘Carthage Eternal’ manages to pack a lot of musical developments into its relatively short runtime. Ana really shines on the fairly aggressive triplet-fest that is ‘Rising Whispers’, ‘A Tale of Time’s End’ makes excellent use of space and proves that songs don’t need to be massively long to have an epic vibe, while ‘The Prophecy’ is the closest the band has gotten to a semi-ballad thus far.

Releasing two amazing albums in a year and a half is no ordinary feat. But Dolmen Gate is no ordinary band. ‘Gateways of Eternity’ already implied that, and it has been confirmed here. Part of me wonders whether we should stop referring to them as an epic heavy metal band. The description fits perfectly, but it summons images of Manilla Road and Manowar, neither of which the band sounds very much like. There are also none of the doom metal leanings these types of bands usually have. However, if you are looking for a heavy metal band that sounds unique, yet feels familiar, Dolmen Gate is the band for you.

Recommended tracks: ‘We Are the Storm’, ‘Carthage Eternal’, ‘Rising Whispers’