Gatecreeper - Dark Superstition *Pre-Order

Release Date Friday 17th May 2024
All pre-orders will be dispatched/made ready for collection on that day.

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—vocalist Chase H. Mason, guitarists Eric Wagner
and Israel Garza, drummer Metal Matt Arrebollo and bassist Alex Brown—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. 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.
In 2019, Gatecreeper unveiled Deserted, their ripping foray into self-described “stadium death metal.” It landed at number
three on Decibel magazine’s revered year-end top 40 list. When the pandemic subsided, Gatecreeper snagged a slot on
the 2022 Decibel magazine tour alongside Obituary and Municipal Waste. These days, Gatecreeper are headliners in
their own right, touring globally under their own banner.
Think of Dark Superstition as Gatecreeper’s answer to Entombed’s Wolverine Blues or Dismember’s Massive Killing
Capacity, pivotal albums on which the songs got tighter and more rock influenced. Or even Paradise Lost, who went even
further in a rock direction with albums like Icon and Draconian Times. “In the mid-90s, all those bands were evolving into
doing their own thing,” Mason says. “I feel like we’ve incorporated that timeline into Gatecreeper.”
Dismember played a particularly prominent role in Dark Superstition. The band’s drummer and main songwriter Fred
Estby flew to Arizona to work with Gatecreeper in pre-production, helping them put the finishing touches on their songs.
You can hear that classic Swedish influence on “Masterpiece of Chaos,” which evokes the tried-and-true Gatecreeper of
Sonoran Depravation. Mason describes the track as “A nightmarish vision of a broken mirror with an ominous creature
that lives within the fragmented web of glass.”
Thematically speaking, Dark Superstition deals with the supernatural, divination, fear of the unknown, and trust in magic
or chance. “Many of the songs incorporate supernatural ideas with my own experiences,” Mason says. “But the title itself

is a reference to the Superstition Mountains in our home state of Arizona. It’s a beautiful mountain range surrounded by
tragedy and legends of hidden fortune.”
Gatecreeper widen their sonic palette on “Flesh Habit” and lead single “The Black Curtain,” which bear the mark of UK
goth magnates Sisters of Mercy and Fields of the Nephilim. It’s still Gatecreeper in all their HM-2 glory, but with a sharper
edge. “The Black Curtain” embodies the album’s theme with a tale of divination. “It’s about being trapped between living
and dying,” Mason says. “A soul trapped in purgatory begging to be brought back by a supernatural force.”
Meanwhile, advance single “Caught in the Treads” deals in the kind of high-powered melodic death metal that will surely
beef up Gatecreeper’s festival game. Along with leadoff track “Dead Star,” the song represents an elevated version of the
band, primed for the bigger stages that the new album will inevitably take them to.
Dark Superstition was recorded at God City Studios in Salem, Massachusetts, with Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, who
also mixed the album. The record is a direct result of Gatecreeper’s experience, musical refinement, and commitment to
death metal. “There’s a lot of bands in our lane,” Mason says. “But we’re trying to create our own.”

Track Listing:1.Dead Star/2.Oblivion/3.The Black Curtain/4.Masterpiece Of Chaos/5.Superstitious Vision/6.A Chilling
Aura/7.Caught In The Treads/8.Flesh Habit/9.Mistaken For Dead/10.Tears Fall From The Sky

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