The Finnish blackened death/thrash metal duo Gates Open has released the opening track and final single from their upcoming second album, Beyond The Black Gates, on streaming services. “The Black Gates,” released in autumn 2026, opens a story about a person approaching a final threshold as hope fades away.
The group is based in Seinäjoki and Orivesi and consists of vocalist Tommi Manninen and multi-instrumentalist Jere Neejärvi, who plays guitar, bass, and drums. The latter has also composed, written the lyrics for, mixed, and mastered the new single and is responsible for mixing and mastering the entire album. The duo created the single’s cover art.
In the band’s narrative, the song’s main character moves through darkness, weighed down by a battered life. The gates symbolize death, deep sorrow, irreversible change, and personal limitations. A distant calling pulls the person forward as despair turns into acceptance.
The musicians describe their sound as a fusion of the aggression and intensity of death and thrash metal with the dark atmosphere and melodic elements of black metal. Two previous singles are also featured on the album: “The Blood On Their Hands,” released in October 2025, is the third track in the order, while “The Black Scorpion,” released in April 2026, is the fifth track.
The project was formed at the beginning of 2023, but the members played together for the first time in another band back in 2007. They joined Inverse Records in June 2023 and released their first official single, “The Awakening,” that same month. This was followed by “Let the Night Become Your Guide” in October 2023 and the track “Gates Open” in December 2023.
The debut album Voice After Silence arrived in February 2024. Further releases followed with “Nightmares Coming True” in June 2024 and “Preys and Predators” in August 2024. The six-track EP Black Clouds Over the World concluded that release period in October 2024.
The new album contains ten tracks. The remaining titles are, in order, “Slave To The Darkness Within” in second place and “Marching To The Gallows” fourth, followed by the concluding suite “Chosen Destiny,” “Whispers of Dread,” “Embrace The Abyss,” “The Grin Behind the Dark,” and “Beneath The Mask.”
