Review by Krys on March 23, 2014.

Lately Italian local cuisine must have started adding alcohol to the maccaroni cause almost every album that hits my desk from azure shores delivers impressive doses of fury and quality. Alldead debut End Gates is no exception.

Comprised of guitar shredders Aldo Panico and Luca Miolla who showcase wide range of influences, blackened voice of Antonio Guerra, and with crushing bass-drum duo of Francesco Oresta and Rodolfo Russo, Alldead spits out high quality material worth noticing in the overcrowded scene. Described as mix of black and death, our quintet also throws into the melt some thrash, delicate overtones of folk and even some classic touches of rock. Because of wide range of musical landscapes listener can't feel boredom and is treated with wide range of flavors. Alldead makes sure that End Gates has something for everyone, from Immortal driven "Ballad Of The Dead", through crushing thrash riffs of "Black Light Of Death" and ending with clean vocal singing on "Something Dark Grows" Alldead diversifies its music just enough to keep it interesting and not lose listener in a chaos of experiments.

My only drawback is that sometimes it feels like they have too many ideas and can't let go from some less impressive chunks. For my taste most of End Gates tracks, running from 5 to 10 minutes, could be a little shorter. I get the impression that number of them would greatly benefit without few riffs and concentrated most punch in shorter spans. But hey, this is a debut and what would be a better place for trying what works or doesn't than your first record. Recommended regardless.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Originality: 7
Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 8
Overall: 7

Rating: 7.6 out of 10