Gatecreeper may very well be the best new death metal band in the scene right now, but their debut EP isn’t quite up to the high standard they’d set for themselves in the future. I liked it quite a lot when it first dropped, but damn near every song they’ve written since has been a huge improvement, leaving these 4 songs in a sort of awkward, formative stage. It’s still a worthy entry into the oversaturated entombedcore game, but perhaps a rather late arrival for anything less than stellar (which Sonoran Depravation certainly was).
All these songs are packed with a ton of great riffs, with just two weaknesses: the songwriting is a tad meandering, and the production does not particularly help accent the music. Yeah, this is got that classic HM-2 guitar tone that we’ve all grown tired of by now, and boy is it an egregious example of it. I don’t know enough about mixing or mastering to really describe the quality, but my best attempt would call it “blown out”, as if the low, mid and high tones are all fighting each out for an emphasis in the mix. Now don’t get me wrong, it does not ruin the music at all. But what it does do is limit listening to this EP on headphones only; when I try to play it on my car stereo or any sort of dual speaker/surround setup, the production sounds like a garbled mess, making it seriously difficult to discern what the fuck the riff even sounds like. It’s not the worst example of this offense (the Spinebreaker album I was anticipating became unlistenable at times due to the guitar tone), but the EP simply pales to the debut record in terms of sonic presentation.
Musically, it’s hard to complain. Slow, sludgy European-style death metal with a fair helping of hardcore/powerviolence inspired groove. “Void Below” is the fastest of the bunch, even keeping a decent tempo when it descends into a galloping breakdown. “Force Fed” is likely the catchiest song here, opening with the first of many immortal Gatecreeper riffs, then evolving into a steady midpaced tremolo feast that will delight fans of Bolt Thrower and Benediction. “Overdose” feels like a Nails breakdown stretched out into a 3 minute song, which should titillate even the most reserved and unwilling-to-mosh metalheads into breaking a sweat. “Slave” has a great morbid melody that makes it the most Swedish-feeling of the bunch, before again settling into a massive groove that demands you drunkenly spin into everyone standing on the edge of the pit.
All the performances here are solid, although not nearly as tight as the ensuing full-length would demonstrate. Vocalist Chase does a great job, sticking mostly to his midrange with a few choice “BLEHS” sprinkled in. It’s missing the deeper, unintelligible lows he’d adopt later, but he’s got a choice style and I’m super excited to hear anything else he performs on. Gatecreeper improve on their formula not long after this; both the “Poisoned Mind” and “Carved Into Stone” split tracks would feature melodies more enticing and riffs more vicious. Apparently they’ve reissued this EP onto a CD featuring all their split tracks as bonuses, remastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege. I can’t guarantee it, but hopefully he helped reign in that wild guitar tone. This is definitely worth checking out only AFTER jamming Sonoran Depravation some thirty or forty times; just remember to only listen to it on your earbuds.
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