WOLVES AT THE GATE | Eclipse | Album Review

Ever since the release of their debut album "Captors" in the summer of 2012, Christian metalcore band Wolves At The Gate has transformed from being a promising new face to being one of the most prominent. Part of that has to do with the lack of truly good bands in Christian rock other than the long-running ones. Part of that is the fact that their music has spread further past the message of the lyrics they write and into the ears of both secular and Christian fans. Either way, Wolves At The Gate is not the same band that they were at the beginning of their career, and are certainly more relevant than ever. Here in the middle of 2019 we now have the fourth studio album from the band entitled "Eclipse", and these descriptors remain strong with the release of new music. My introduction to this band was through "Captors", to which I saw potential in this band early on with creating solid metalcore that took inspiration from Bible verses, which opens the door for a lot of lyrical potential in my opinion. Their next two albums "VXV" and "Types And Shadows" followed, and the latter was the album that sold me on this band. "Types And Shadows" was somewhat of a turning point for this band to creating moving music that incorporated a ton of melody throughout, and I consider it to be their best album to date. So, going into "Eclipse", it's fair to expect a continuation of that sound. 

Four singles were released from the album before it was released, those being the opening cut "The Cure", "A Voice In The Violence", "Drifter", and "Counterfeit". These are four tracks that share the same amount of heaviness present in the band's work, but aren't as easily comparable to each other and do their own thing. As I mentioned, "The Cure" opens up the 13-track set and does so in an excellent fashion. This is easily one of the strongest tracks you'll come across in the entirety of the listening experience. Opting to open things up slowly with a clean guitar melody and a slower pace, the track bursts out of the floodgates with the line "I can taste the misery" screamed by harsh vocalist Nick Detty and it is impressive to say the least. Other lines in the song like "Cataracts can't see things clearly" are just as well written in the song and is a perfect depiction of a broken person needing a cure. The musical side of things also works with the excellent verses and the chorus having a potent correlation and the vocalwork from both Detty and clean vocalist Steve Cobucci being solid throughout. "A Voice In The Violence", the other single I listened to in anticipation of the album, is more of that same feeling though I feel that "The Cure" absolutely sells their sound much better than that track does. That's no slight to that song because it does have its moments and overall I think it still works with the tone they're going for on this disc, but it's just not as impactful. 

As an overall project, it's safe to say that "Eclipse" is pretty much in line with the melodic tone of "Types And Shadows" but have moments that get much more bombastic in sound. Maybe it's the production, maybe it's the band's intent. Some of the cuts that come from this record have a more in-your-face element but it's not done in the same way as the debut. The melody still drives these songs even with the focus on heavier elements. "Face To Face" is an example of this with its booming drumwork, not to mention the breakdown of the song after the second chorus and all of the orchestral stuff going on. "Enemy" feels much more like it was targeted for radio, and it's probably the closest this album gets to having a fun-sounding song. This is Wolves At The Gate growing further as a group of musicians and in their writing and it's presented with charm. Amongst other stellar cuts such as the title track, "History" and "Response", the latter of which featuring an excellent vocal performance from Nick Detty, the real highlights of the album are "The Sea In Between" and "Alone". These cuts are placed adjacent to each other in the track listing, and it's a smart decision because both of these songs excel. "The Sea In Between" sets the mood perfectly with its ocean sound effects before getting into the fantastic music, meanwhile "Alone" has the best chorus out of any song on this album, and that's what makes it the best song on this album. All the highlights on this album are definitely worth the experience. 

There are tracks that don't live up to the rest of the album. "Drifter", which was released as a single, has good instrumental work but it falls flat in the writing as it's a generic song with lyrics about someone walking a harsh trajectory on his own. "Evil Are The Kings" doesn't have much appeal aside from the instrumental work. "Blessing & Curses" has promise to be a decent closer, but also has a riff pattern done in 7/8 that is all too prevalent in this breed of metalcore/post-hardcore. Some of these could have been trimmed off of this album to make it somewhat shorter, but even with that said, there is still so much good here that it's hard to pay attention to the filler moments. "Eclipse" is proof that Wolves At The Gate are one of the few Christian rock/metal bands in modern times that has staying power. In a genre where most bands stick with being status quo and in turn get buried while other genres float to the top, this band iis definitely not sinking with them, no matter if the bands below them are good or bad. Overall, Wolves At The Gate's fourth disc continues the band's journey into melodic post-hardcore with Christian lyrical themes. If you want a band that can take their sound in a heavier style but still manage to get a good melody across, Wolves At The Gate have provided a collection of tracks that fans would instantly eat up like hungry wolves. 

RATING: 8/10 

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