Album Review – Deserted by Gatecreeper (Relapse Records)

American death metallers, Gatecreeper, return with their eagerly awaited sophomore release, Deserted following their 2015 full length debut, Sonoran Depravation.

Sonoran Depravation came out in 2016 so it has been a reasonably long wait for a follow up from a new band. Gatecreeper only formed around 2014 but have made huge waves in a short space of time. Hard work, regular tours and good music is how you make a name for yourself in metal, apparantly. In reality, there is a luck element too but you have to put the groundwork in to make your opportunities for luck. For Gatecreeper, it is a formula that is working well. They work hard and churn out strong music. Let’s hope Deserted carries on that trend. Gatecreeper are Chase Mason on vocals with Eric Wagner and Nate Garrett on guitars. Sean Mears is on the bass and Matt Arrebollo is on the drums.

Deserted is 10 tracks or 40 minutes of heavy metal. Thick groove and punchy riffs lead the way coupled with growled vocals and moments of melody that puncture the thick cloud of brooding metal. Despite the album being nice and heavy, there is a clean feeling to proceedings. The whole album has nice, tight and clean lines. Not quite polished but definitely showing that Gatecreeper are aiming higher than your local pub or small venue. It suits them too. Deserted is a strong release with songs that engulf the listener and full the room. Songs that could fill a stadium one day perhaps? The biggest hurdle to that though will be expanding their sound away from straight up groove/death metal though. Even here, on ten tracks their are a couple moments of what feels like repetition.

They are fleeting thankfully. Coming in the form of a couple tracks that are good but feel a little like filler. I think the issue is that Gatecreeper pretty much keep the same tone on their guitars throughout the whole of Deserted. That means that by the time you hit tracks like Ruthless, you feel like the riff is familiar and therefore repetitive. Even that doesn’t make it a bad song. A good chunk of it sees the tempo raised for a nice, mosh ready verse or two. The drums are excellent too. When the track slows down to groove, it’s very similar to the tracks that came before.

Mostly though what you get are seriously weighty riffs that vibrate your skeleton. Richter scale worthy bass hits you hard too. Opener, and title track, Deserted builds up into a slow thumping riff that has you head banging within seconds of its start. Moments of cautiously used melody add a little extra depth here and there while the tempo is set exclusively by the drums, often playing at their own tempo while the riff stays slower. Puncture Wounds is a shorter song but the same style with a speedier riff. Everlasting has serious groove going on and some meaty growls. It’s tempo is slow if you are a guitarist and quick if you play drums. It is quite familiar again though until it’s huge grooving instrumental section with high toned lead guitars adding a layer of depth to the dirty groove.

Barbaric Pleasures has some excellent lead guitar work to offer something a little different. The way the drums build into the melody is perfect. Sweltering Madness has moments but isn’t the most exciting song. The intro is a little repetitive but it does then build with a middle section full of guitar slides and massive drum blasts.

There are a few tracks that stand out. Some absolute belters that really showcase why Gatecreeper are touted as being one of those “next big things”. From the Ashes has one of the best riffs and drum beats on the whole album. It’s so catchy and cool and you could imagine it being played to huge crowds of metal heads headbanging in unison. Boiled Over has insane groove and brilliant lead guitars. It’s solo/instrumental part is excellent and worth shouting about. The album ends with a double punch of In Chains followed by Absence of Light. The former again brings an amazing riff to the table. The vocals are strong and the song has a nice sped up verse adding some extra intensity before reversing it and ending with a supreme slowdown.

The album closes with Absence of Light. It switches things up in the intro at last. Huge guitars join a crescendo of metal straight from the off. The vocals get very blackened at the beginning too but it’s the lead guitars that have me hooked on this one. After blackened start, the guitar melody and thick riff instrumental sections have a slight doom quality to them. It fades out gently closing the most creative track on Deserted.

Deserted is a damn fine metal album. There is a lot to admire here. There are songs I love like Absence of Light or From the Ashes and songs I just like a lot. There isn’t a bad song on the album. The faults only come from brief moments where their is an air of familiarity. A hint of repetition. A lot of that comes from the fact that Gatecreeper appear to use the almost exact same tone on their guitars across the whole album. More of it comes from the vocals. Chase Mason has a strong voice with loads of power and aggression but he is mostly monotone. It suits Gatecreeper’s style but, other than a few moments of lower tones, it is the same thing across each song.

Deserted is too good an album to leave it on even the most minor of negatives though. Let’s end by saying that this album shows a modern death metal band with the ability and talent to reach great heights in metal. Deserted brings the riffs, groove and power and is everything you could hope for from a band’s sophomore release. Gatecreeper are the real deal.

Deserted is available now on all the usual streaming platforms. You can grab a physical copy from Relapse Records, here or here.

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