We’ve covered the burgeoning development of this Arizonian old school death metallers in some detail over the past decade. Now signed to Nuclear Blast, this is a big step up the band, which they have pulled off with ease. Vocalist Chase H. Mason acknowledges their improvement. “We refined the song structures. We’re getting better at what we do.”
Ominous words for any competitors, but great news for those who enjoyed the band’s previous work. Alongside Mason, Dark Superstition sees the return of guitarists Eric Wagner and Israel Garza, drummer ‘metal’ Matt Arrebollo and bassist Alex Brown. It’s a powerful follow up to 2021’s An Unexpected Reality and evidence that the band are moving upwards through the ranks.
What’s impressive about Dark Superstition is the feel of it. Described as their answer to Entombed’s Wolverine Blues or Dismember’s Massive Killing Capacity, there’s a wider sound to this album. Whilst the band retain their death metal links, there are variations which show a maturity in the songwriting.
The opening track Dead Star is less ripping your face off than previous albums, whilst Oblivion is a sonic blend of intensity and slower, more pleasurable riffage. Tackling themes of supernatural, divination, fear of the unknown and the trust in magic or chance, there’s plenty to explore. Black Curtain for example, sees the band take on a gothic stance with influences like Sisters Of Mercy and Fields Of The Nephilim combing with the band’s more punishing style.
That’s not to say that Mason has eased off, no way, and his rasping gravel coated roar remains as ferocious as before. However, the influence of bands like Dismember is strong. Drummer Fred Estby worked with the band in pre-production, and his touch on tracks like Masterpiece Of Chaos, described by Mason as “a nightmarish vision of a broken mirror with an ominous creature that lives within the fragmented web of glass”, is evidence of the classic Swedish sound’s influence.
Gatecreeper don’t mess around either. The songs are generally short and sweet, with only the dramatic finale Tears Fall From The Sky, a crushing doom epic clocking in at over four minutes in length. With a tour with Enforced and 200 Stab Wounds booked for the Autumn, and an album that is certain to carry favour with old and new fans alike, Dark Superstition still brings the HM-2 sound and, having established their position, are unlikely to let it go. 8/10
Cognitive - Abhorrence (Metal Blade Records) [GC]
That’s not to say that Mason has eased off, no way, and his rasping gravel coated roar remains as ferocious as before. However, the influence of bands like Dismember is strong. Drummer Fred Estby worked with the band in pre-production, and his touch on tracks like Masterpiece Of Chaos, described by Mason as “a nightmarish vision of a broken mirror with an ominous creature that lives within the fragmented web of glass”, is evidence of the classic Swedish sound’s influence.
Gatecreeper don’t mess around either. The songs are generally short and sweet, with only the dramatic finale Tears Fall From The Sky, a crushing doom epic clocking in at over four minutes in length. With a tour with Enforced and 200 Stab Wounds booked for the Autumn, and an album that is certain to carry favour with old and new fans alike, Dark Superstition still brings the HM-2 sound and, having established their position, are unlikely to let it go. 8/10
Cognitive - Abhorrence (Metal Blade Records) [GC]
Formed back in 2011 in New Jersey Cognitive have released an EP and 4 full length albums so far, the last being back in 2021, now they are back and ready to release their new album Abhorrence on their current label Metal Blade.
The title track Abhorrence kicks everything off in a suitably savage deathcore way, managing to avoid the overtly electronic sounding guitars that most bands seem to have right now and sticking to good old fashioned and well produced cuts, overall, it’s a decent start BUT there are cleanish type vocals included that sound a bit cheesy, Insidious does its best to sound like early Whitechapel and succeeds in everyway which is no bad thing because that was their best era, but it just seems a bit too familiar for me for a band 5 albums into their career.
A Pact Unholy doesn’t really do to much different from the first 2 tracks but the range of vocals is different and there are a load more technical guitar parts and this makes for an interesting listen, but once again I just don’t think the clean vocals go at all, in both songs they have featured you could easily take them out and not notice, I hope this doesn’t become an exhausting pattern throughout the whole album.
Ivory Tower continues the deathcore tone running and once again while not being exhilarating is still more than decent to listen to, with As The Light Fades there feels like a bit more grandiosity has been added into the darkness and its chugs and blasts away while having an almost epic feeling in places and because of that the clean vocals finally pay off and add something to the song as a whole and the guitar solos at end add a suitably grand finish! Savor The Suffering is almost everything you could ask for from a modern deathcore track, huge guttural vocals, chugging riffs and thunderous drumming and the obligatory breakdowns midway through all careering together to rip your face clean off and all in just under 3 minutes, thank you very much!
Containment Breach is more of the same as you would obviously expect, there isn’t a whole lot of variation on this record and sometimes, if it isn’t broke don’t fix it and it does have an excellently ominous ending section that really makes the whole song that bit more interesting. Rorschach tries its best to lull you into a false sense of security but the more laid-back start last all of 30 seconds before all hells breaks loose, the riffing of Rob Wharton & Harry Lannon is sharp and stabbing.
Tyler Capone’s undeniable bass rumble holding the all the chaos together with the drums absolutely exceptional from AJ Viana but what stands out here are the vocals, its an unreal vocal performance from Shane Jost on this track, you can feel everything he is spitting out at you, tremendous stuff, following this with Lunar Psychopathy sounds slightly less interesting because it’s not as layered or nuanced but it’s still decent in the grand scheme of things, so its onto Cold Dead Hands to close the album and of course it does so in furious fashion, with not one single second wasted on subtlety or restraint and is another great showing of when it’s done right deathcore can be one of the best styles of metal around.
At first, I was a bit unsure about Abhorrence, there were some parts that I could have done without but for the most part this was a brilliantly heavy and unrelenting listen and the few bits I didn’t particularly like didn’t actually ruin anything for me in the long run. If you like deathcore you will undoubtedly love this record. If you don’t and are looking to explore the genre, check out this record as it’s a very, very good way to start your journey!! 8/10
BAT - Under The Crooked Claw (Nuclear Blast) [Matt Bladen]
2/3 Municipal Waste and 1/3 No Tomorrow, BAT is a no-frills gore soaked band from Ryan Waste of the Virginia thrashers, he’s joined by Waste guitarist Nick Poulos, also of Volture and drummer Chris Marshall of punk band No Tomorrow, this trio coming together in 2017 but only now making their recorded debut. The punk drumming of Marshall, fills these songs with fury, putting the speed into speed metal.
Influenced by blood splattered VHS tapes from their youth, banned video nasties that were said to corrupt the moral fibre and set against music inspired by bands such as Venom, Discharge (Warshock), Motorhead, The Misfits (Just Buried) and Motorhead. BAT is no side project it’s the flipside to Municipal Waste, there Ryan cranks out crossover thrash rhythms on six strings but here he gets to take scuzzy lead bass like Lemmy or Cronos, the NWOBHM gallops on Revenge Of The Wolf fitting into that sort of musical area before the crossover chops ring out on Bastardized Force.
Rite For Exorcism sees the trio locked in for some punk metal grooving, those basslines giving you some grunt as the drumming takes that familiar punk one-two to make it faster and nastier, Streetbanger unloading speed metal on you in under 3 minutes. The lyrics are all derived from horror movies so the song Horror Vision is a natural fit as it sees them praising these video nasties, with lurid excitement as Marauders Of Doom lets more classic/speed metal leather shows it’s face.
Signing to Nuclear Blast and the addition of a new drummer allows more experimentation of their gory punk metal hybrid, Under The Crooked Claw is a superior record to their debut, better balanced between the moments the band wants to create, fire up the VCR and let the slashers loose with this as your soundtrack. 8/10
Ancient Settlers - Oblivion’s Legacy (Scarlet Records) [Mark Young]
Oblivion’s Legacy is the sophomore release from Ancient Settlers, their first for Scarlet Records and it is good one. The Circle Of Misanthropy, with its jaunty opening, voice-over, and Swe-tinged guitar build starts at a fair old lick, with some class death growls courtesy of Argen Death There are melodic flourishes all over it with the partial switch to clean singing handled well. It's punchy, taking enough influence from Swe-death without it being a direct copy.
Lead breaks go the right way, and it’s a solid start that they maintain into Oblivion’s Legacy. That jaunty theme returns as the muscular opening falls away to reveal a carny arrangement, which jars for a second. Luckily, the metal returns, dual vocals that match with the guitar lines, presenting them with a class singalong section that is made for live performance. The melodic death provided does enough without trying to be something new and has all the key ingredients you would want – great tempo and is attacked with gusto, in every facet from the drums to leads to the vocals.
This attitude towards the music is kept up, as they know what riffs should go where, a great example is Stardust Odyssey where they have three great chord builds, and a mighty elongated roar that segues into a massive breakdown via a subtle change. Its really good stuff, as is the charging Wounded Heart. The synths used here do good work in supporting and once again they go for a chorus section that is built for being played live.
Their respective countries of origin, being Venezuelan and Spanish means that they can also lean into a lighter approach, such as that delivered on Subversive. This is not to say its soft in any way, it’s just the way it is put together is more Euro metal than Scandinavian (this is not a diss). What is excellent here is that there is no drop-off in speed, the tracks fly by at a lick with barely a chance for them to grab a hold. What is in their favour is that they keep to the overall tenet of providing the best melodic death they can, Coven Garden has this wicked progression with the cleans draped over without sounding off.
In fact, I’d like to say that Oblivion’s Legacy is certainly one of the brightest melo-death albums I’ve heard this year. There have been plenty of albums that talk about channelling the Gothenburg sound and in the process seem to lose something of themselves, ending up with mixed results. Here, they take what they like, or feel right and then put their stamp on it. The Mechanical Threats Paradox, whilst a mouthful of a title is another great example of their vision. Don’t take my word for it, give it a go. Alas, Redemption is the last song, and as you would expect, they serve up a classic slice of melodic metal, mixing tempo up nicely and even amping up the synths for good measure.
This attitude towards the music is kept up, as they know what riffs should go where, a great example is Stardust Odyssey where they have three great chord builds, and a mighty elongated roar that segues into a massive breakdown via a subtle change. Its really good stuff, as is the charging Wounded Heart. The synths used here do good work in supporting and once again they go for a chorus section that is built for being played live.
Their respective countries of origin, being Venezuelan and Spanish means that they can also lean into a lighter approach, such as that delivered on Subversive. This is not to say its soft in any way, it’s just the way it is put together is more Euro metal than Scandinavian (this is not a diss). What is excellent here is that there is no drop-off in speed, the tracks fly by at a lick with barely a chance for them to grab a hold. What is in their favour is that they keep to the overall tenet of providing the best melodic death they can, Coven Garden has this wicked progression with the cleans draped over without sounding off.
In fact, I’d like to say that Oblivion’s Legacy is certainly one of the brightest melo-death albums I’ve heard this year. There have been plenty of albums that talk about channelling the Gothenburg sound and in the process seem to lose something of themselves, ending up with mixed results. Here, they take what they like, or feel right and then put their stamp on it. The Mechanical Threats Paradox, whilst a mouthful of a title is another great example of their vision. Don’t take my word for it, give it a go. Alas, Redemption is the last song, and as you would expect, they serve up a classic slice of melodic metal, mixing tempo up nicely and even amping up the synths for good measure.
All told it’s a decent set of songs that whilst not offering up anything ground-breaking, they are good songs that deliver on all counts. On the strength of this material, you hope that they can continue to grow with bringing their own sound into it, as they are doing on here. Good Stuff. 7/10
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