Friday 17 February 2012

Over the Mountain

Welcome back. It brings me much pleasure to inform you that we've been making lots of progress in the past couple weeks. Leads guitars for the release are completed, and all that's left is a bass track, a couple vocal layers, acoustic guitars and the odd touch-up here and there. Completed by March? One may hopeth.

Bigger news still, I can now unveil the artwork for Prophecy and Judgement. Behold:


This piece was rendered by the astonishingly brilliant hand of Ralph L. Torres, many thanks to him for bringing our ideas to life on the page. Click the thumbnail to zoom in.

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Forged in Fire

Welcome back. Many apologies for the long delay between posts and updates. Real life, personal struggles, work, vacations, holidays and other such things stand in our way toward complete and utter epic metal domination. Thanks for the patience. Enough of that, onto the news! Some rather titillating things in store for you all

Firstly, I have some exceedingly exciting news. Gatekeeper's debut release, the Prophecy & Judgement EP will be released by The Forge (Aforja) Records, based out of Portugal on CD format! The deal was inked a few weeks ago, and we've been itching to spill the beans. The Forge has worked on some incredible live and studio releases in heavy metal from bands such as Solstice, Atlantean Kodex, Midnight Priest, and Eliminator and it will be a honour to be working with such a fine organization. Please take a moment to check out their site.

Secondly, the recording in progressing smoothly, albeit at a snails pace for the moment. Gatekeeper is currently a side-project for it's members, we all have other bands, full-time jobs and/or school to keep up with so the holiday season took it's toll on our work pace. However, things are looking up. Almost all of the bass tracks are complete, as well as rhythm guitars. Drums are also totally complete. All that's left are guitar solos, a few vocal layers, and some acoustic guitars to shine the whole thing up. More studio footage to follow.

Third, we have artwork for the release. It is a glorious, 12"x24" pen and ink drawing of an ancient greek ruins, portraying the fabled oracle of Delphi. The piece was rendered by the illustrious hand of Ralph L. Torres, whose previous work may be seen on albums by Iron Age and Green and Wood. I currently have the piece in my possession, but I need to get it scanned properly, as mere photos don't do it justice. I will post the artwork as soon as I am able.

Lastly, a run of limited edition Gatekeeper shirts have left the press! An extremely short, super special edition. Limited to a single shirt, in fact. This fine fabric piece was printed and is being worn by none other than Sir Mario Weiss, who some of you may know as the drummer for Bavarian Regressive Metal Stalwarts, Atlantean Kodex. You can witness his handiwork at the bottom of this post. Mario and the good fellows from the 'Kodex have been supporting Gatekeeper since the beginning, so if you're not already a fan of the band then please direct your attention to their website.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more.

Black