You think you’re in for a nice drift, then Gates pull a cloak over your eyes and toss you out into space, and it’s a lot noisier than you’d expect, particularly when, somewhere in the background, a band starts shredding, and maybe even blast-beating. And so begins Eintraum, a post-black-metal haze that has to be heard to be believed. I remember school was canceled in Post Falls, Idaho, one year due to icy winds. As a kid, hell, you’re still thinking, “Why not head outside?” but when you do, you’re confronted by a blast of paralyzing cold that felt like this tape sounds. It’s so intense the senses can barely handle it; this is the music of the future. So glad to hear Gates endeavor to strive for a sound less defined by gray, flat landscapes than skulls being crushed into powder by a twisted-metal thundertruck, though Eintraum has its moments of drone reflection, however brief. Lean into this one; it’ll kill you back.
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