Review Summary: The most profound meditation session you ever had.
There was minimal promotion and hardly any time between the announcement and actual release of the new Bell Witch album, which seems to be part of a trilogy, and aimed to nail down and erect the quintessence of doom metal in the form of gargantuan, soul-drenching compositions. The same tactic was employed in 2017 with Mirror Reaper, as we now bear witness to The Clandestine Gate, which also has an apocalyptic cover art that’s just a pleasure to look at, and a track of no less than 1 hour and 23 minutes to go along with it.
In such an arrangement, the band, in a way, demands from the listener to make time and indulge in the experience, as there’s no singles, short track shortcuts or any other kind of shenanigans to get a quick feel of the work. You may as well set your phasers to “slow” as that’s what you’re going to get from The Clandestine Gate, an overwhelmingly massive album that glorifies the genre it is labeled under and makes a wondrous example of what could be achieved through it artistically. Feelings of sorrow and melancholy are strongly exerted from the intensely moving instrumentation, especially the guitar lines and background repetitive keyboards, both of which have been practiced in this manner before by artists within the funeral doom metal regime.
Variations of the vocals from clean voice chanting to deep growls are also incredible and indirectly mark the different sections of the whole piece, them and a handful of stripped down clean guitar parts scattered throughout and used as connection points for the record’s flow. The Clandestine Gate opens with pale church organ sounding keys, and presents its poignant character for about half an hour, before gathering some momentum for a few extra minutes in order to discharge its heavier, more ominous side that at certain moments, could distantly remind of 2006 – 2009 era Ahab, but more multi-layered musically. At the one hour mark emerge similar soundscapes like at the beginning of the album, and then on Bell Witch embark on a 20 minute session of more distinct guitar riffing, slightly (but really, really slightly) faster tempos to achieve the monumental closing of the whole thing, and let the dust settle.
The textures and melodies of The Clandestine Gate are characterized by heart-wrenching beauty, the vocals are excellent and these snare drums feel like pummeling through the core of the earth, constituting to an overly immersive record with heavy emotional charge and exquisite musicianship. It is generally more well-directed and focused than Mirror Reaper, revealing how Bell Witch probably took the time and by now actually managed to release a masterpiece of this size. Lay down your souls to the gods doom metal.
