{"id":103276,"date":"2024-05-17T00:00:59","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T23:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=103276"},"modified":"2024-05-24T13:35:55","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T12:35:55","slug":"album-review-gatecreeper-dark-superstition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-gatecreeper-dark-superstition\/","title":{"rendered":"GATECREEPER – Dark Superstition (2024) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

GATECREEPER
Dark Superstition<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nNuclear Blast (2024)<\/span>
Rating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s difficult for me to get caught up in a hype machine when it seems as if those getting excited about such a record are completely unaware of the history of death metal. Arizona\u2019s Gatecreeper have most certainly been a formidable act within the genre since forming in 2013, but one cannot overlook the fact that the band\u2019s latest offering sounds like Swedish death metal legends Dismember, whose origins date back to the late 80s.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard a few people stating how original Dark Superstition<\/em> is, which tells me all I need to know. The reality is that Gatecreeper\u2019s third full-length outing is strong, catchy, melodic but unoriginal. Of course, I don\u2019t expect many death metal bands of today to create a new sound, but the familiarity here in those grooves just makes me yearn for 1991 all over again.<\/p>\n

Chase H. Mason\u2019s rough slurping growls are energetic and at times even lean towards a hardcore dynamic, but it\u2019s all a case of recycling and the same can be said for the riffs. I do however like some of the more melodic segments, such as the opening strains of \u2018Dead Star\u2019 with its waft of In Flames and the chainsaw-driven slower passages littered throughout what is still the best album from the band to date.<\/p>\n

I guess the key here is that pretty much all of the songs present are memorable, particularly \u2018The Black Curtain\u2019 and \u2018Masterpiece Of Chaos\u2019,although the Dismember comparisons emerge time and time again, especially on \u2018Caught In The Treads\u2019. You will also find a teetering towards a black death vision, as well as utmost aggression through the chaotic carnage of \u2018A Chilling Aura\u2019, but my personal favourites are the gothic \u2018Tears Fall From The Sky\u2019 with its haunting atmosphere and the slightly less savage \u2018Flesh Habit\u2019 which flirts with Paradise Lost.<\/p>\n

It could be argued that this is the record that truly defines Gatecreeper\u2019s sound, but even with its more experimental details it is the album I predicted; a wall of Swedish HM-2 riffs resulting in meaty grooves, Mason\u2019s raw pukes, crafty melodious leads and a multitude of drum fills. It\u2019s all good solid stuff that nods towards Entombed circa Wolverine Blues<\/em> (1993) and bristles with anthemic frothing bolstered by the production of Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou.<\/p>\n

A raw and riotous return indeed, Gatecreeper is a force to be reckoned with for sure, but more so if you\u2019re new to the scene and have never heard of the bands previously mentioned.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GATECREEPERDark Superstition Nuclear Blast (2024)Rating: 7.5\/10 It\u2019s difficult for me to get caught up in a hype machine when it seems as if those getting excited about such a record are completely unaware of the history of death metal. Arizona\u2019s Gatecreeper have most certainly been a formidable act within the genre since forming in 2013, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5694],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-gatecreeper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103276"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103278,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103276\/revisions\/103278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}