I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: every single metalhead always had a select few bands that will always lay in the underground where they can thrive, and we as fans watch them closer than a hawk follows its prey. The underground acts we follow didn’t gain our loyalty for no reason other than being able to fucking deliver, and Gateway has long been an act I keep a close eye on ever since the band’s eponymous record three years ago. Since then, this one-man act has expanded yet stayed true to his roots in exemplary fashion!

Something that I’m always in search for as someone who’s constantly sifting through volumes upon volumes and months upon months of metal albums that range all across the board in terms of style is something very simple: savagery that actually works. Sure, we see death and doom metal by themselves as well as coming together to create something monstrous to behold, but it’s not often enough an act makes a truly nasty piece that takes a seasoned metalhead to get into. Gateway easily fits the bill with the uncompromising and exceedingly raw nature that the material has going light years ahead of what so many other acts try to go for, and “Boundless Torture” so far takes the cake. While this an EP which is, naturally, shorter than a full-length with only having four tracks, Gateway doesn’t let a single moment go to waste here with every moment of “Boundless Torture” being an absolute assault of the mind and the modern musical equivlaent to being pulled apart at the limbs very slowly. Gateway sticks the unadulterated nastiness that has made the act so reputable to begin with as well as incorporating intoxicating riffs that are simply drenched in filth that continues to make this 20-minute onslaught of an album such a treat from start to finish.

There’s virtually no problem that I can find within the confines of “Boundless Torture”, and there’s no denying that this EP has the power and the audacity to really show those who scour the metal underground that Gateway is not a band to be ignored nor skipped over. Such excellence wrapped in a seething shell of pulsating guts cannot be attained so easily, but Gateway makes it look fucking easy.

LISTEN to “Boundless Torture” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Gateway on Facebook here.