A complete review of Heaven's Gate's career

Written by Thomas, October 2004

eaven's Gate from Wolfsburg, Germany, is a band that many has overlooked, but their influence and importance on the power metal scene is not to be taken lightly. The band contained an amazing vocalist and a guitarist named Sascha Paeth, that later would become a demon producer in this genre. I am confident that every person that calls himself a power metal fan owns at least one album that Sascha has laid his hand on.

This is an introduction and a guide for those of you that have missed this band, from their first album to the last they ever did.

In Control (1988) - 7/10

- This is a fifty/fifty album where half of the material is superb, whilst the rest come out as a bit too simple. A typical eighties sound with a production that holds really well still to this day. As does several of the songs, such as the mighty anthem Path Of Glory, which would come to have songs that followed it in the same style on later albums creating kind of a trilogy. In general, the album is a bit short with nine tracks including the intro, and a cover of Nazareth's This Flight Tonight.




Open The Gate And Watch (1990) - 8/10

- Still speedy and with an eighties feeling, this one is much similar to In Control. But the quality is more even, and the songs feels to be more elaborated, and that is something that you become aware of right from the start with the track Touch The Light. Typical eighties metal with a bit speed and a power feeling, and the tendencies towards more straight power metal begin to show. As this is a MCD, it is yet again a short album that includes a cover. This time it is Rock On, written by David Essex.




Livin' In Hysteria (1991) - 10/10

- Here is where all of the pieces fell into exactly the right places. Thanx to a friend, and because of the cool cover, I discovered this band at this point and it didn't take long before Livin' in Hysteria took position of a special place in my metal heart. From the opening title track until the closing Gate Of Heaven, every track is more or less a perfect ten. Continously speedy, but the power metal became more obvious with even more catchy and sing along friendly refrains. There is a mix of faster and mid-tempo tracks and a couple of those anthem-like ones, and also taken in consideration that the guitars are absolutely brilliant, this album is nothing but a masterpiece. In the track The Never-ending Fire, the theme from Path Or Glory from In Control is continued, an anthem-like track that has similarities with the beginning song. The production is a bit thin, but the mixing is perfect, and Livin' In Hysteria sees the first producing steps from Sascha, that together with Thomas Rettke is credited as co-producers. A more thorough review can be found here.


Hell For Sale! (1992) - 9/10

- Still very much power metal, but with a more mature sound. The songs have grown heavier and the sound is really great with a big and soft production, but still made quite heavy. You'll find fast and heavy power metal in the tracks Under Fire, Rising Sun, and even on the title track that has Kai Hansen as a guest. And those great tracks are backed up with a couple of slower and darker ones like Atomic, and the pounding White Evil. Hell For Sale! sadly also holds two really lousy tracks. It sounds like they have tried to copy Scorpions at their most commercial and terrible moments, so the tracks America and Up An' Down have to be seen as acceptable losses in an otherwise flawless career that up til now has been free from total low marks as these. We also have the continued and ended trilogy of songs in He's The Man that started with Path of Glory on In Control and was followed with The Never-ending Fire on Livin' In Hysteria, a mighty mid-tempo hymn and you can clearly see a red line with the musical theme that is going through all of the three tracks. Yet again they throw themselves into doing a cover and this time it is mighty Monthy Python's Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life they make a funny little version of.


Live For Sale! (1993) - 9/10

- Live For Sale! serves as a great introduction to the band with a real "best of" track list. The sound is really good and the Japanese crowd seems to have been absolutely wild during this evening. A powerful and dynamic album with a great live atmosphere and perfect deliverance from the band, and vocalist Thomas Rettke shows that he really is an amazing singer live as well. Some of the songs become absolutely magical when you hear the participation from the crowd.




Planet e. (1996) - 7/10

- Planet e. sees the first line-up change in Heavens Gate since their debut album. Out goes Manni Jordan and in comes Robert Hunecke as the new bass-player. This is an album that has a lot in common with Hell For Sale!, perhaps more even but without the real highlights that the predecessor had. Noah's Dream however is a real treat with its length, the mighty middle part, the melodic twists and of course the fast pace. The faster songs Planet e. and On The Edge hold a good quality, while Back From The Dawn and Rebel Yell shows a more mid-tempo side with still very melodic and typical power metal elements. Only the ballad The Children Play falls out of frame on this one. And now Sascha is credited as producer along with Miro, a team-work that would come to produce many great power metal albums, and still is as far as I know.


Menergy (1999) - 6/10

- Not as much power metal anymore, but you still can't make the mistake of taking them for anything else than Germans, and there is still speed and catchy parts to go around, not just as much as earlier - not nearly as much. A solid album that holds a really high quality on through the album, even though there aren't any obvious highlights. Heaven's Gate show a new side of themselves with Menergy while still holding on to the sound they have earlier created. It is not so little annoying though, with all the stupid interludes between every song, and that fact is something that takes away a lot of the pleasure while listening. And this time the album is produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Sascha Paeth and Miro.


Boxed (1999) - 9/10

- The first disc of this double CD- feature includes re-mastered versions of the first two Heaven's Gate albums with the EP More Hysteria as bonus. More Hysteria has four tracks - three from the Livin' In Hysteria era, and one acoustic version of Best Days Of My Life. The other three tracks are very good, but I can see why they didn't end up on the original album since they differ a bit from those songs they wrote back then. There is also a live version of Rising Sun from the same concert as on Live For Sale!, and it's good to see that a track as good as this doesn't get wasted. The second CD features the In The Mood EP with acoustic versions of some of Heavens Gate's past. Some are good and some are not as good, but the medley of four songs they perform is splendid. In Control, Livin' In Hysteria, Gate Of Heaven and Hell For Sale! made up into a ten minute acoustic medley, and that is nothing but magnificent. Last track out on the second disc is yet another song from the Live For Sale! concert that didn't end up on the original release, Don't Bring Me Down.

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If we will hear from this band again is currently written in the stars, as they were disbanded after Menergy. A small re-union is to be found at the concept album Aina, created by Sascha Paeth and Robert Hunecke-Rizzo with a guest appearance from Thomas Rettke in a couple of tracks. Three members out of five and for now that is the closest we get to something new from Heaven's Gate.

Thomas - October 2004