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, Anthrax
indebted 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 Reagan
is 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
