Keldian: "Heaven's Gate" Keldian is Melodic Hardrock from Norway with a darn innocent and close to naive sound of the 80's. I guess it's mostly due to the vocals of Christer Andresén (vocals, guitars) as he burst through like a slightly scary version of Morten Harket (A-HA) and Knut Erik Ostgård (Return). Not quite as good on the high-pitched rank buy always with a lively accent and a honest belief of authenticity. There's certainly a lot of drama and passion into the music of Keldian. Keyboardist Arild Aardalen will instantly grab hold of the listener and refuses to let go during the ten tracks of "Heaven's Gate". There's layers and layers of 'over-the-top' segments to be found throughout the CD and it's very much the synth/keyboard sound of the 80's. They do have something "unique" and "special" about their sound... it's actually quite difficult to nail down all of their influences. The easiest way out to try and describe their CD would be like a hybrid version of 80's Norwegian Hardrock (RETURN), ditto Pop (A-HA), and the cheesy, bombastic, power metal of the late 90's (RHAPSODY -OF FIRE). The gospel of fluffy rock according to Keldian rocks the best on the hook-laden opener, "Crusader", the manic singing approach of "Heart Of The Sun", the A-HA sound of "Redshift", and the Rhapsody (heh!) of "Salvation". The ultra catchy "Sundancer" is a fine and strange example of what a hybrid of the three acts, Europe, Rhapsody & A-HA, would sound like, if anyone should ever come up with such a mad idea? Well... I guess Keldian did... or perhaps it's just me??? If you're prepared for a hybrid sound of the cheesy and the catchy, you could definitely do a lot worse than this. It's certainly something out of the ordinary. 6 / 10 Urban "Wally" Wallstrom |