REVIEW: Iron Reagan & Gatecreeper, "Split"

By: Mark Ambrose

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 02/03/2018

Label: Relapse Records

“Split” CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Iron Reagan, “Warning”

2. Iron Reagan, “Paper Shredder”

3. Iron Reagan, “Take the Fall”

4. Iron Reagan, “Proudly Unaccountable”

5. Iron Reagan, “Burn for This”

6. Gatecreeper, “Daybreak” (Intro)

7. Gatecreeper, “Dead Inside”

8. Gatecreeper, “War Has Begun”

The Review:

               

Splits are regularly some of my favorite releases – so much so that in my yearly rundown I tried to highlight some of the real standouts in a growing field of collaborative metal albums.  With grind splits, you can end up with several bands spitting out double digit tracks and not break the twenty minute mark, or, in the case of Fister & CHRCH, you can have two sludge powerhouses spewing out 15-20 minute odes to suffering.  Maybe my favorites are those cross-subgenre cage matches, like the latest split between punky crossover thrashers Iron Reagan and decrepit death conjurers Gatecreeper.  Aside from rock solid production and rugged intensity, these two metal standouts have little in common.  But like a particularly memorable basement show, the disparity actually makes this brief hunk of aggression amount to more than its scant eighteen minutes would suggest.

               

Iron Reagan need no real introduction at this point – the members have been responsible for some of the best death, crossover, thrash and hardcore of the last few years.  The five cuts they contribute are like a little tour through classic hardcore punk and 80s thrash – opener “Warning” has a bright, SoCal hardcore tone that, at first listen, almost sounds like a massive Hammond organ.  Paper Shredder ups the LAxHC antics, with a tapped out intro lead, Anthraxindebted gang vocals, and palm muted builds to full on mosh breaks.  “Take the Fall” swaps coasts as the most classically Bay Area thrash metal cut on the record – the chugging rhythm work is the real standout, while the lead flourishes are pure Hammett worship.  “Proudly Unaccountable” is the briefest outing on the record (at a pummeling 45 seconds), but the strange rhythm changeups had me thinking of midperiod Black Flag with blast beats.  “Burn for This” may be my favorite cut on the record, a brutal little number that practically sounds like skatepunk.  I could certainly imagine it blasting behind a Bones Brigade tape.  The whammy bar work walks a thin line between Slayer divebombs and East Bay Ray surfer leads.  As a closer, it’s a rad sendoff that speaks volumes to how Iron Reaganis far more than a nostalgia act – these guys whip up a punky metal cocktail with their own signature on every riff, every breakdown, and every shouted lyric.

               

Gatecreeper somehow slipped under my radar until this split and, boy, am I ready to delve into their surprisingly large catalogue (especially for a band only formed in 2013!).  Vomiting out filthy, nihilistic death, the Arizona five-piece inserts the right amount of punk rhythm into their crushing metal riffs.  Drummer Matt Arrebollo slides just enough punk fury into his galloping double-kick attacks to keep things from ever getting repetitive.   Intro track “Daybreak” is a neat instrumental pummeling, but one-two punch of the abysmally downbeat “Dead Inside” and the apocalyptic “War Has Begun” made me crave a lot more of what Gatecreeper has to offer.  Wagner and Garrett’s occasional harmonic flourishes really had me hooked into their old school death metal, while the rhythm is gut churning in all the right ways.  If I had any complaints about the release, it’s that Gatecreeper didn’t have five tracks of death to counter the five bursts of enervating crossover thrash from Iron Reagan.  Like the best splits, this left me craving more… I suppose for now another spin of this excellent record will have to suffice.

“Split” is available here

Band info: Iron Reagan|| Gatecreeper

ALBUM REVIEW: Møl, "Jord"

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type:Full Length

Date Released:13/04/2018

Label:Holy Roar Records

the basic feel of the music is going to be very familiar, but it’s done so well, and with such conviction that virtually no one else, including the biggest names in the style, have the chops to match what Møl does here.

‘Jord’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Storm

2. Penumbra

3. Bruma

4. Vakuum

5. Lambda

6. Ligament

7. Virga

8. Jord

The Review:

I’ve always imagined it being rough, being a band involved in a niche subgenre on the decline after its initial peak. It must have been rough to have been an American-style death metal band in the late 90s. It probably would have been similarly challenging to have been symphonic black metal band in the mid 2000s. And it also seems like it would be difficult to be a post black metal/blackgaze band in 2018. This is all anecdotal on my part, but it feels like if you were to go onto social media and talk up a band using terms like blackgaze or post metal, or post black metal; you’re likely going to be met with some apprehension from friends or followers.

There’s a burnout that follows the gargantuan wave and eventual collapse of a hot new subgenre, almost like at a certain point, there’s an unspoken moratorium on new bands in that style. But the truth is that none of that shit should matter. Good albums are good albums. And Møl’s debut full length, ‘Jord’, is a damn good album. Sure you can point to similarities the band shares with certain tentpole bands in the style, but you could also say that Møl is doing more with that style, and in a more compelling way than any other band occupying this space.

The hallmarks are all here: the soaring, effects-drenched leads, the rock-laced drumming choices intertwined with blast beat sections, and of course the harsh, higher-pitched shrieking. And yet Møl is putting these elements in their own unique context by infusing a northern European influence in their riff writing style you don’t run across often in this niche. “Vakuum”, as an example, features a main riff that feels like a Norse take on the rhythm-centric approach of Cobalt’s‘Gin’. There’s more of a melodic sensibility to it, but it captures a similar energy.

Even the stuff that fits into the genre’s longstanding tropes are performed better on “Jord” than on any album of a similar style in years. “Lambda” is steeped in the sort of airy, wistful clean guitar work that’s been one of the genre’s calling cards since day one. But thanks to some slick, fluid drumming choices from Ken Klejs, and the brilliant craftsmanship of the rest of the band, the song never feels like a lazy rehash of old ideas. Yes, the basic feel of the music is going to be very familiar, but it’s done so well, and with such conviction that virtually no one else, including the biggest names in the style, have the chops to match what Møl does here.

And that’s what the story of ‘Jord’ as a whole. It’s familiar, but brilliant in its own right. Gorgeous in the ways you’d expect, but brilliant in subtler ways you might not expect. Whatever the status of your burnout level is with shoegazy black metal: if you loved the style once, you owe it to yourself to give this album a committed listen. You might just remember what you enjoyed so much about this kind of music to begin with. I have. 

‘Jord’is available here

Band info: Facebook