Review of Gatecreeper - Sonorian Depravation

Unless You live under a rock, and this is the first time you have ever visited this site or another heavy metal/extreme metal webzine, I’m going to assume you have heard of Arizona’s Gatecreeper, Relapse Records latest heavily hyped darlings.

Partly because this is the first new band playing old school death metal Relapse has pushed in a while (let’s face it Gruesome is a cover band….), plays into the current d-beat/Swedish hm boss revival and partly because it’s pretty f’ing good, Gatecreeper has been getting a lot of buzz around their debut and after finally hearing it, I can see why.

With a killer production from newcomer Ryan Bram that delivers a perfectly hefty and musty old school chainsaw /sunlight buzz, Gatecreeper make no bones about their influences, as the down tuned, mid range riffs rumble and tumble with equal parts Entombed (a sort of Clandestine/Wolverine Blues mix), Grave, Bolt Thrower and Asphyx. The affair is largely a mid paced, chugging train assault with a few bursts of cantering controlled speed and plenty of slower, tank like trundles.

The 9 songs don’t reinvent the wheel, heck, they spin in place in a muddy, bloody pool, but its everso satisfying. From opener “Craving Flesh” to the more ambitious almost 6 minute, doomy closer “Grotesque Operations”, the album hits all the right death metal sweet spots. The huge ending groove of “Sterilized” and “Patriarchal Grip”, the urgent Asphyx like canter of “Desperation”, the immediately recognizable Bolt Thrower rumble and wail of “Stronghold” and the militant march of “Lost Forever” all bring the neck snapping goods.

Other then the obvious influence above, I can see the Vastum  and Acephalix crowd enjoying this as well, as there seems to be strains of both buried in the more big name homages. While Sonorian Aftermath is no Interment, Revel in Flesh or Entrails, its a simple yet satisfying death metal release you will hear this fall, so go ahead and get stuck in.