Gatecreeper

The new wave of American death metal needs a breakout album, and "Dark Superstition" is it.

Gatecreeper’s third full-length sees the Arizona death metal specialists carving out their own path. The band’s first album for Nuclear Blast is more concise, melodic, and memorable than anything they’ve done in the past. “We refined the song structures,” Mason says. “We’re getting better at what we do.”

Formed in 2013, Gatecreeper have spent the last decade steadily climbing the death metal ladder. Their self-titled 2014 EP established instant credibility as purveyors of the old-school form. The band signed with Relapse, releasing their full-length debut Sonoran Depravation in 2016 and An Unexpected Reality (2021) which was released via Closed Casket Activities. At once an homage to their desert origins and a statement of death metal intent, the record landed them a 2017 tour with Cannibal Corpse and Power Trip.