Gatecreeper Break Down New Album Dark Superstition Track by Track: Exclusive

Heavy Consequence Staff
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The post Gatecreeper Break Down New Album Dark Superstition Track by Track: Exclusive appeared first on Consequence.

Track by Track is a recurring feature series in which artists guide readers through every song on their latest release. Here, singer Chase H. Mason takes us through Gatecreeper’s new LP, Dark Superstition.

Modern purveyors of American death metal Gatecreeper are back with their third album, Dark Superstition, and first for their new label Nuclear Blast.

Regarding the LP, singer Chase H. Mason states, “Many of the songs incorporate supernatural ideas with my own experiences. 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.”

Dark Superstition was recorded at God City Studios in Salem, Massachusetts, with acclaimed producer and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, who also mixed the album.

Gatecreeper — comprised of Mason, guitarists Eric Wagner and Israel “Izzy” Garza, drummer Metal Matt Arrebollo, and bassist Alex Brownare — are currently supporting Swedish metal veterans In Flames on a US tour that runs through May 26th in Dallas. From there, they’ll embark on a North American headlining run with support from Undeath, Jarhead Fertilizer, Final Gasp beginning May 28th in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and running through a hometown record release show at The Nile Theater in Mesa, Arizona. Pick up tickets here.

In conjunction with the album’s release today (May 17th), Chase H. Mason has offered up a track-by-track breakdown of Dark Superstition exclusively for Consequence below. Take a listen to the album via the Apple Music player and see Mason’s description of each track below.

“Dead Star”:

We wanted to start the record with a bang and put something melodic and huge right at the front. While we have been using guitar melodies since the beginning, we really took it to the next level on this song. There’s several different leads that come in and out as well as a really cool solo from Izzy. There’s a certain bounce or groove to the verse riff that feels very natural to me so I was able to really flow vocally over it. Big In Flames – Clayman influence on this one. Lyrically this is a love song about a shooting star.

“Oblivion”:

After giving the people something a little different with “Dead Star,” we wanted to follow it up with an energetic and more “classic” Gatecreeper style song. I feel like this is even more strictly Swedish Death Metal style than we have ever done in the past. We used Kurt’s famous candy corn HM-2 pedal on the extra guitar layers on this song to really lean in on it. There is also a huge punk influence on this song. The lyrics are on the more personal side and talk about the effects or aftermath of a traumatic event.

“The Black Curtain”:

This is one of the very rock-oriented songs on the album. It’s definitely a new sound or style from us but I think we incorporated a couple new influences while maintaining the overall Gatecreeper sound. We used a chorus pedal on a lot of the guitars to accentuate the goth rock type leads. I would cite Paradise Lost or even HIM as influence or inspiration. Lyrically, this song is about Divination. The lyrics are through the eyes of someone trapped in purgatory, between living and dying, begging to be brought back to life by some sort of supernatural force.

“Masterpiece of Chaos”;

This is the most straight forward death metal song sandwiched between the two most melodic songs on the record. There is a big US death metal influence at play here rather than Swedish. The long intro is perfect for headbanging and Matt’s drum parts are insane. One of my favorite riffs on the record is after the first chorus underneath the dive-bomb solo. The lyrics mostly refer to the superstition surrounding broken mirrors. I had the image of a spider web created in the shattered glass and the effects on those who dare to look at their reflection in the ominous mirror.

“Superstitious Vision”:

Here we have arguably the most melodic or even uplifting sounding track on the record. I remember first hearing the main guitar lead that Eric wrote and I knew we had to write a song around it. I can see a whole stadium of people at a sporting event humming along to the guitar part. There’s an Amorphis or Finnish feel to the melody. The bridge is something a little different for us plus there’s some fucking cowbell in there! Lyrically this song is about vices and luck. Gambling, sex, and substances. All the best things in life are a roll of the dice.

“A Chilling Aura”:

This is a fun song that starts off with a blast beat which, up until our last record, is something that you wouldn’t normally hear in a Gatecreeper song. We kind of cracked the doors open with our An Unexpected Reality EP to implement some different styles or sub-genres into our songs. This song definitely has a black metal element to it. There’s some tremolo style riffing, blasting, and even some rare high black metal style vocals. The bridge has a cool time signature change which is something we usually don’t do. Lyrically this song is about death and the grim reaper.

“Caught in the Treads”:

We wrote this song with big outdoor festival stages in mind. We got our taste of the summer European festivals and learned what type of songs or parts work in that setting. There’s a huge Amon Amarth or big anthemic death metal influence here. We started sneaking this one in the set as soon as we were finished recording it because it was designed to be played live. For the lyrics, I took the classic metal theme of war and battle and added a supernatural spin to it. The lyrics tell the story of a tank that has been possessed by the souls of fallen soldiers rolling over their enemies.

“Flesh Habit”:

When we were writing this record, we considered both this song and “The Black Curtain” to be part of the same family. Both songs have a big goth influence, but executed in slightly different ways. The Sisters of Mercy was a huge influence on this song. We did some research on what sort of drum machines were used on their early records and layered some drum samples in the song. Mainly on the verses you can hear the 808 claps and synthetic drum sounds. On the surface this song is about a werewolf or vampire’s thirst for blood, but it’s actually about addiction.

“Mistaken For Dead”:

This is another “classic Gatecreeper” style song. There is a huge Stockholm influence as well as American death metal like Autopsy or even Death. To me, this song was like, “Oh you think we sound like Dismember? Check this out.” Fred Estby worked with us on these songs and he approved. The chorus was hugely influenced by Massive Killing Capacity and we threw some tambourine in there to really drive it home.

“Tears Fall From The Sky”:

It is our tradition to end our albums with a Doom Death type track. This is the most recent installment of Doom songs for when we do an all Doom set one day. This is a slightly more condensed version of songs in this same style that we have done before (ie: “Emptiness”). There is a huge My Dying Bride and Anathema influence on this one. This is the first song that Alex, our new bass player, joined in on the writing process. The lyrics to this song veer outside of the overall theme and talks about Depression using nautical or nature themes.

Gatecreeper Break Down New Album Dark Superstition Track by Track: Exclusive
Heavy Consequence Staff

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