Gatecreeper – Sonoran Depravation

Craving Riffs.

(Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on April 17th, 2020)  

After reviewing their sophomore effort, Deserted, I decided to review the Arizonians’ debut album, one that I had listened to quite a bit before the release of Deserted, just to see how it stacks up in comparison to its sibling. All in all, it’s not as good, but that doesn’t mean that it’s bad.

The album starts off at a thundering pace with the opener, “Craving  Flesh”, which, coupled with the second track, “Sterilized”, give us a taste of what’s on offer, which is mostly mid paced death metal with occasional speedy passages, some doomier sections and the occasional breakdown, which is to be expected since the band has injected some hardcore influences in their sound.

The album’s tracks are generally evenly distributed along its 30 minute runtime, and as a result there aren’t any parts that’ll feel too boring or bland. The midsection of the album is held up by “Rotting As One” and “Stronghold”, which are in a way connected by the feedback that lies at the end of the former and the start of the latter, and despite that both tracks have their own character, with the first half opening with a crushing drum intro backed by a slow riff, which then transitions into a faster riff, and those two speeds alternate along the track along with some tasteful drum fills, which then lead us to Stronghold, which without a doubt is one of the strongest tracks on the album, and having some of the strongest riffs on offer, like the fast riff that opens it and then the fantastic riff that comes in at 1:57, which to put it lightly absolutely slays and is guaranteed to send almost anyone into a headbanging frenzy.

The album’s final two tracks, which happen to be my favourite, are “Flamethrower” and “Grotesque Operations”. Now where do I even begin with Flamethrower, it genuinely has one of my favourite riffs ever, and is so simple yet so effective at eliciting a reaction from me every time I listen to it, along with Chase’s vocal rhythms makes for an absolute blast of a song to listen to, and is without a shadow of a doubt the highlight of this album. “Grotesque Operations” on the other hand, is arguably the most varied track here and the longest at 5:43 minutes, which is somewhat reasonable, since it’s the closer, and alternates between an almost doomy opening riff and a mid-paced one, which then give way to a faster riff which is followed by a small breakdown around 2:15. All in all it’s an excellent track to end the album on, making sure it goes out with a bang rather than a whimper.

Despite all that, the album does have a few drawbacks, most of which stem from its simplicity as an album, don’t expect to hear any leads or solos here, the album is simply riff after riff, and that’s all the variety you’ll be getting. For some people like me it’s not too much of a problem, but people who seek technicality in their death metal should look elsewhere, as this is not an album you can really discover something new with subsequent listens, despite how fun it is. Another issue is that some tracks just go in through one ear and out the other, either due to how short they are, like “Desperation”, which clocks at less than 2 minutes, and “Lost Forever”, which simply plods along without much going on.

The vocals for are an unintelligible growl with a bit of bark, and serve mostly as a complementary instrument to the rest of the madness going on here and since there are no lyrics to be found anywhere (I bought a CD copy of this album in hopes of the booklet having the lyrics, but instead I was met with a collage of images depicting disaster and death and a picture of the band members), so it’s best that you just let them supplement the heaviness of the riffs with their rhythm.

Production wise the album isn’t anything special, it’s just the norm for death metal these days, with meaty guitars, punchy and heavy drums and a bass that’s buried somewhere in the mix and can be faintly heard on occasion, which is a damn shame because it could’ve made the riffs stick out even more if it was higher in the mix.

All in all, it’s a solid debut from Gatecreeper, and despite its shortcomings, it still makes for a fun listen if you’re in the mood for some good old OSDM with some good riffage and vocals, but also shows that there’s room for improvement, which was realized in the follow-up, which is a more well-rounded experience with better production and improved songwriting.

Highlights: Craving Flesh, Stronghold, Flamethrower, Grotesque Operations   

Rating: 77% 

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