At any given time, each style has a select list of rising names that are making quite a stir for one reason or another with their names always on the lips of many along with any new album they put out something that the entire community knows about the moment it’s announced and eventually released. Death metal is no exception to this fact. There are loads of acts out there that have been rocketing through the underground to show us what they’re made of with the likes of Gatecreeper one that I’m sure most of us are acutely aware of by now. Their Sonoran brand of death metal has never been something to underestimate with its power and distorted melodies, but it is here with their third full-length that is but the next step in their sonic evolution.

After taking a quick step to the side to explore two distinctly different avenues of death metal with their 2021 EP, “An Unexpected Reality”, many of us were wondering if Gatecreeper would take more time to explore different dynamics of their sound to go for an eclectic discography that saw the band tackle a different style at least every so often. With the arrival of “Dark Superstition”, it’s clear that doesn’t seem to be the case with Gatecreeper showing off their venomous brand of intensely melodic and fuck-off heavy death metal that leaves nothing on the table for survivors nor any chance of such. However, it becomes evident very quickly within these ten tracks that the melodic aspect of Gatecreeper’s sound has taken stage more so than ever before. The intense death metal is absolutely there and there’s no doubt in any form about that. Still an immense slab of death metal that seeks nothing but a world swathed in darkness dominated by the undead, “Dark Superstition” still absolutely delivers on the most basic level, but it can feel as though Gatecreeper has sacrificed a little bit of their underground grime to make their sound more accessible. I wouldn’t dare say that Gatecreeper has sold out whatsoever here, but the cleaner production and the seemingly more focused songwriting around the melody has certainly made for a different sound albeit strikingly similar to where the difference is negligible at times. At the end of it all though, I cannot sit here and even think about considering “Dark Superstition” as a failure in any form.

The key aspects for what have always made Gatecreeper the force we’ve known up to now are all certainly there with it all coming together to make for what can only be called another successful entry in Gatecreeper’s growing catalog of deadly offensives. Infectious to the end and downright immense right from the start, “Dark Superstition” is that shot of frenzied madness into our spines that we’ve been waiting for.

“Dark Superstition” releases on May 17th via Nuclear Blast Records!

LISTEN to singles from “Dark Superstition” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Gatecreeper on Facebook here.