I’ve been waiting for this one for a while. A while back one of the other esteemed staff here, Steve K, tagged me on a video for the song “Deconstruction” and I was hooked, purchasing/ downloading the band’s various songs and EPs.

So, who is The Weeping Gate? Well, they hail from Little Rock, Arkansas. They started in 2007 as a melodic hard rock band but have since developed into a melodic death metal/metalcore band with a heavy keyboard presence and some clean-sung female vocals.

There are some crystal clear influences at play here. In the riffs and genre influences, I hear The Black Dahlia Murder, early Bleeding Through, Winds of Plague, some 90s symphonic/melodic black metal, and, due to the female vocals (along with dual rasps and growls of Alex Turpin), Germany’s Deadlock (circa 2005’s Earth. Revolt) and, more obscurely, Aversed and their 2022 album, Impermanent.

Then there are the keyboards of female singer Sydney Halcumb. Rather than the orchestral/ symphonic Lorna Shore mimicking hues of some of their peers, they are a little more ethereal, crystalline, and fantasy-sounding. As I mentioned above, at times I get wafts Winds of Plague (the non-suck albums). And while I’m sure the band is too young to even know them, here and there I get a Bal Sagoth vibe- not just in the keyboards, but some of the riffs too. Check out the opening minutes of “Cursed”,  “William of Norwich” or the galloping in the chorus of  “Deconstruction”. I half expected Lord Byron’s Plankton bellow voice to chime in with “THE RAVENS ARE ON THE WING!!”. (or maybe it’s just because I’ve been on a huge Bal Sagoth and Kull kick of late…).

Anyhoo, what I’m saying is, with all the bands I mentioned, which might turn a bunch of you off, I’m really digging it. It hits all the soft spots for me. From the blistering, straight-to-the-point opener “The Woods”, where Halcumb quickly establishes herself on keys and vocally, through “Beyond the Witchcloud” (is that a Bal Sagoth some title or what?) where Chaney Crabb of Entheos helps out, “Illuminate & Desecrate”, standouts “The Burial” (where Halcumb again shines) and aforementioned “William of Norwich” and “Deconstruction”, I’m simply really enjoying the entire album and every slightly cliched, familiar sound and trope it has to offer.

A couple of moments slow things down a bit such as “Lycanthropy” and closer “As Evil Transcends”, but otherwise everything has a well-produced balance that delivers fast, mid-paced, and slow riffs. The focus is really on the complete songs and songs where Halcumb shows up truly shine and make The Weeping Gate one of Arkansas’ best new metal bands….

[Visit the band's website]

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