First of all, I would like to emphasize the outstanding skills of the musicians, and specially of the guitar player Jonas Hörnqvist, whose purely playing abilities are absolutely tremendous. This is one of the excellent points of this CD.

Stylistically, I would define "Gateway" as prog metal with a strong neo-classical influence. This neo-classical influence is however mainly perceptible in the instrumental parts, and not so much in the sung ones.

Many track display a similar structure : they feature a powerful instrumental introduction; however, when the vocals step in, the guitar usually calms down. Hence, the main guitar theme is frequently somewhat slow and powerless, lacking punch and crunch. Even when this main theme is played fast, it has a very linear structure, sounding somewhat like " filling stuff ". What I miss particularly in comparison to other similar bands are powerful hacked and syncopated riffs a la Romeo (the point here is not to criticize bands which don't sound like SX, but just to mention a example of what I mean, albeit SX indeed epitomizes this particular aspect ; I could have cited many others), giving more drive and a true backbone to the whole song.

In a totally different style, several tracks are beautiful ballads, nicely played, with interesting themes. This is a range in which Treasure Land excels.

The other weak points are the choruses. On many tracks they are recorded with some soapy backing vocals (so frequently displayed on most hard rock and heavy metal bands of the mid and end of the eighties), which confers to the music a rather worn and commercial twist.

To conclude, I would say that I really like the CD, but nevertheless that I think the compositions of Jonas Hornqvist could be improved by some minor enhancements on choruses and riffs. The important points to remember are the presence of superb instrumental neo-classical themes which offer power and speed in one bundle. Particularly the track "Possessed" features some of the most interesting neo-classical metal heard in years. This mere track is already worth purchasing the CD.