Well, when MESHUGGAH came to the light and showed a new and different musical conception, and the new way of playing called Djent started to gather more and more fans throughout the world. Instrumental projects of the style appear in many parts of the world. One good project is SHADES OF BLACK, a one man band from Fort Wayne, on Indiana (USA) that comes with "The Gates", their new album.

Hearing all the band's songs, the listener will get that it's a Djent Metal project, but filled with Arabic, epic and many more musical influences. It shows that Matt (the only band member) has a great creative power, and "The Gates" seduces you the more you listen to it. Be prepared, because even being so easy to understand, an instrumental album deserves a great amount of attention. The sound quality is good, but it's not what "The Gates" deserves. The instrumental tunes used on the programming could be better chosen, to fit in a better way with the musical conception of the album. But it is not something that will make you run away from the album. It's good, but could be far better than we hear.

The band's music is truly catchy and hypnotic. You will not feel yourselves bored because it's an instrumental work. No, here the things are truly good, and modern, sounding abrasive and melodic in the due ways. The best songs of the album are the technical and melodic ones "Janus", the brutal grasp of the atmospheric "Pylai", the very good and seductive work of the guitars on "Horn", the beautiful musical arrangements of "Tartarus", and the very good "Erebus". But the entire album is good, and deserves fully our attention, because it's really good in musical aesthetics terms.

Fine album!