Gnosis are a relatively young outfit from Florida that recorded their first official material at the Shack North Studio. That stuff got engineered and mixed by Fernando Coipel, and mastered by Dan Lowndes (Resonance Sound; cf. the likes of e.g. Förgjord or Desolate Shrine), all in 2014. Then they signed to the mighty Nuclear War Now! Productions roster in order to have this recording, nicely entitled The Third-Eye Gate, released on both CD and LP. The latter, by the way, comes in black, dark green and gold vinyl.
Anyway, this quartet (vocalist J.S., drummer C.V., bass player / keyboardist C.R.C., and guitarist A.F.) brings thirty six minutes of very old schooled Occult Black / Morbid Death Metal. No, this time it’s not the Second Wave-styled tradition that deflowers the listeners’ ear drums. Actually, this time I am rather intended to refer to the Greek scene from the late Eighties. Gnosis perform a primal approach yet with a specific technical elegance, combining both the chaotic side of the scene as well as the structured one. Therefor I do not think it’s that absurd to mention comparable acts like Varathron, Necromantia or earlier, though I think comparisons to Doomstone, Blasphemy or Mystifier aren’t that bizarre either.
At the one hand there is a greatly skilled song writing, and a ditto execution. No seriously, this stuff exhales the purity, the essence of this specific scene. The sound quality too is more than acceptable, for being rough and unpolished, yet quite decent overall. However, I do miss persuasion, conviction, variation, and above all: an own face too. It’s like waiting for something to come, but that never arrives. I think that’s a pity. But then again, as said before, there are quite some attractive elements too, so I’d like to propose to listen to this material for sure, and then to make up your mind. But I do not think you will be totally disappointed. Why should you anyway.
[I know it’s quite subjective, yet in a positive sense: if only for the outro, which is the title track, I would add some additional points to my final score…]