Gatecreeper are back and this time they’re riding in on a flaming horse, clad in chain mail, wielding a swirling morning star (and of course a whole heap of HM2). The new record Dark Superstition masterfully takes bits and bobs from all over the metal landscape and blends them into what can only be described as a blackened, HM2-ridden heavy metal monster. Like their forefathers in Entombed when they dropped Wolverine Blues the rock ‘n’ roll influence is writ large over this new offering, and while some might miss the overt blasting heaviness of the previous releases, it’s clear that Gatecreeper have taken a big step forward with their songwriting and arrangement chops.
Gone is much of the pounding double kick, whilst the hardcore influence is still there, it takes a backseat to the atmospheric melancholy that permeates the whole album. Dark Superstition is a new version of Gatecreeper, a more complete version, with tighter songs, more clear goals and a whole heaping chunk of studded leather influenced riffs. This is where you’ll find tracks to not only headbang to, but also to sing along to, something that is apparent from the get-go with the opener “Dead Star,” which is replete with memorable riffs, and a chorus that has to be destined to be shouted back at vocalist Chase H. Mason from a crowd in rapture.
Superstition, divination, magics and folklore are the soup de jour – the album title is a reference to the Superstition mountains of Arizona, a place steeped in mysticism, mystery and hidden fortune, as the band describe it. It’s this almost Victorian thematic choice that gives the album such a unique edge. Whilst the old Gatecreeper is still there, like an overloaded salad with lashings of dressing, the HM2 growl permeates all they do on the record, but never at the detriment of anything else. Gatecreeper have produced an album here that is not only flawlessly achieves the goals they set out to complete but does it in a fun yet macabre manner (something that can get lost in the race for taking yourself seriously so oft found in death metal). It’s not the longest record ever, but none the less listening seems to take mere minutes as the pacing, songwriting and riffs carry you along on a flaming Pegasus towards the desert mountains of Arizona to fight some sort of mythical beast or find a long lost buried treasure.
This vein continues, with the support of the huge sound of the drums, something probably helped by the fact that Dismember’s drummer Fred Etsby flew out to Arizona to help with the production of the album. The drums at times are so thick they overtake everything else that’s going on, and not in a bad way at all, it’s quite rare to get something so spot on for the feel of the album, but Gatecreeper have nailed it here. The riffs keep coming like hordes of fantasy orcs and the opening of single ‘The Black Curtain’ might just go down as one of those riffs that make people pick up the guitar and start to learn, or convince your parents that you are in fact worshipping at the altar of Satan so evil and macabre yet melodic in its delivery.