Gatecreeper @ Crowbar
Gatecreeper are at an almost arena level of performance in the world of heavy music.
Review by Chris Chaplin Full Gallery by Rhys Bennett with additional photos by James Gough
Making the pilgrimage down from the Blue Mountains on a Sunday to Sydney’s institution of riffs - CROWBAR (the self-proclaimed Home of Heavy) it was fair to say I had some trepidation on how brutal my Monday would be, but by the time the sun was setting behind me on Parramatta Road and I gazed up at the familiar letter board sign on the corner reading GATECREEPER KRUELTY – stoke levels were at an all time high.
Having witnessed both acts on their previous Aussie tours, I felt I had a pretty solid expectation of reality and had been g’ing up my girlfriend on how sick it would be throughout the day. Little did I know I was underselling it BIG TIME. This would be the type of Sunday aural assault which fills up your fuel tank for the week ahead rather than leave you with emptiness for the hum drum of the daily grind.
Photo by James Gough
Early arrival and starved meant I’d capitalise on the chance to get a feed at Ultimate Pig (yep, the Nashville chicken truly never fails) and started seeing some familiar faces pouring into the beer garden. Luppo from Flaming Wrekage regaled me with some tales of the looseness from The Black Dahlia Murder set the night before, notably of punters getting rowdy and spilling beer all over his face. A sign of things to come? Abso-fucking-lutely. Alright, time for riffs!
The team at Destroy All Lines did a killer job booking line-ups for this tour and nailed it with Sydney 5 piece The Plague slated to open up the evening. As a guitar nerd, I appreciated the insight to have a band steeped in the sounds of Swedish Death Metal, with the familiarly disgusting chainsaw HM2 guitar tones (think bands like Entombed, Bloodbath or even USA Powerviolence contemporaries NAILS tonally) provide the foundation for a night of acts favouring in your face neck snappers and cod face inducing grooves over intricate song writing and vocal melodies.
Having seen The Plague numerous times in the past, they proved they were truly deserving of their slot, delivering an airtight set full of blastbeats, trem picking, half time beatdowns and sustained chord epicness. Their vocalist shined with his range of dirty vocals, particularly when going for the high register held fry screams, adding dynamics to their sound which elevated the energy in the room. Mid way through the set the first signs of a pit began to form, and whilst the classic ‘arms folded my back hurts’ vibe was kicking about (the term flaccid headbang I’d heard uttered), by the time the band had finished the low n slow n shreddy journey track ‘Festering In Sickness’ the stage was surely set for the rest of the brutality in store.
Where The Plague paid respect to Death Metal, next act World Of Joy unapologetically slew Hardcore heavies out to a room growing considerably fuller and eager for the riffs. The extra weight in their music was personified by a bass tone that felt like cinder blocks being hurled at you with every pick and the ever satisfying sound of controlled chaos feedback between tracks. WOJ exuded confidence switching up from the 2 step downbeat rhythms and breakdowns (this drummer hits hard AF in the best possible way) with some intense blast sections to up the intensity every so often which was clearly winning over uninitiated punters, overhearing grinning faces asking “who is this!?” more than once through the set. Max Steel from Foothills said it best in my opinion “Dumb Riffs, Done Smart”. I’d have to agree and if I was to give a two word review, “Fuckin Sick” is all you would need to know. World Of Joy’s energy was infectious and you could feel the excitement building to boiling point for the international acts to follow.
Photos by James Gough
An obligatory trip to the merch area gave the best insights you could get into both Kruelty & Gatecreeper visually. Whether you are a fan of the Arizona lord’s music or not, you cannot deny the quality and consistency of their aesthetic and their merch stands out from the pack. A long sleeve with merch dates on the whole right sleeve? Now THAT is a flex. Bumper stickers which say “Honk if you are horny for Gatecreeper?” TAKE MY MONEY. What really stood out for Kruelty was the addition of hand made and undeniably super kawaii jewellery (crafted by their Bass player, Seina) sitting on the merch desk in all it’s glory in what appeared to be a pink makeup kit. Nothing more could juxtapose the absolute filth that was about to bathe our eardrums when the Japanese Death/Doom infused 90’s Hardcore crushers kicked off.
From the moment the stage flooded with red lighting and the oppressive drones of Doom began ringing out from the Orange cabs, it was clear Kruelty were here to do one thing – absolutely crush this venue to the ground. With the previous two acts more in their lane so to speak of their respective genres, the meld of styles coupled with one of the most beautifully disgusting guitar and bass walls of sound was nothing short of captivating. Unlike their previous trek round Australia in support of their last full length Untopia, this tour sees their Guitarist, Zuma, moved to vocal duties too, forcing out girthy one note style gutturals throughout the set. Did the lack of range matter? Not in the slightest. If anything, the restriction of shared guitar and vocal duties and its simplicity served to amplify their mission, creating disgusting music to absolutely crush this venue to the ground.
Photo by James Gough
“Fuck shit up Sydney!” Zuma was commanding and by this point, the mosh was in full effect and those headbangs around the room weren’t looking so flaccid now!
Armed with some of the most grotesque slamming breakdowns I’ve ever heard coupled with metallic face re-arranging hits of the snare, it was clear the energy in the room was finally being released as someone charged into the pit with a girl in a red dress on his shoulders.
It would be near impossible to be watching a Krulety set of that calibre and be thinking about anything else aside from how HARD they go, even if you are catching twinkles of light off the glitter studded strap holding an old school crackled finish looking Dunable bass. Loud, relentless and unique, Krultey cemented themselves as an act built for the mosh with an authentic edge that seems to effortlessly permeate through all aspects of the band which few acts can achieve.
The Black Curtain live at Crowbar by Rhys Bennett
The room packed and the stage now washed in green with atmospheric synths setting the mood, Gatecreeper enter to take command of Crowbar.
‘What up, we’re Gatecreeper from Phoenix, Arizona” vocalist Chase Mason casually announces before ripping into down tempo behemoth Sweltering Madness to kick off their set. Green was an appropriate colour as the god tier sound of their guitars (remember that HM2 thing I mentioned earlier?) would fill any tone chaser with envy, sonically executed to perfection. Straight off the bat, they were sounding menacingly mammoth and by the time we got to the first “UGHHHH” from Chase during Ruthless the room was headbanging in unison with the band.
After serving up material from early record Deserted, the whiplash start to arguably their most popular track Starved sent the pit into a frenzy. The swagger and confidence of Chase’s stage presence along with his album perfect quality vocal delivery melded with the sea of hair powerstanced guitarists gave the impression Gatecreeper are at an almost arena level of performance in the world of heavy music.
With a new record on the horizon new track Caught In The Treads was received with cheers of approval before seeing the first true circle pit in motion of the night. Make no mistake, the hype around this band is real (always has been), and the response to the intensity and power of their no-nonsense riffing attested to that.
Photos by James Gough
The towering figure of guitarist Eric Wagner created a perfect visual for ominous tracks like Patriarchal Grip with its droned guitar harmonies into full fledged double kick sections and straight up bone headed riffs into fat as hell grooves - proving the old “if it ain’t broke, why fix it” approach to heavy music holds true when done right and fuck me DEAD do they know how to do it right as the chaos in the pit proved.
The set clearly crafted to showcase the variety in riffs and elicit the biggest possible response from the crowd, another new cut The Black Curtain gave a more accessible dimension to their sound showing Gatecreeper aren’t looking to rest on their laurels. A track which is almost a straight up rock song I could imagine as menu music on a WWE video game when compared to the Swedish inspired Death Metal & Southern Groove of the rest of their music.
The heaviness of (at the time of writing) unreleased banger Oblivion brought the insanity back in to the mosh which didn’t relent until getting to lethal bludgeoning closer Flamethrower.
Chants of GATE-CREEP-ER filled the room, and the calls for one more were satisfied with Chase dedicating encore track Boiled Over to Crowbar (the venue AND the band) fittingly as the final sludgey grooves expelled the last drips of energy from the punters.
The life-affirming fun of a killer heavy metal gig left fresh in the audiences memory for many shows to come as the chicken dance (yes, the chicken dance) played over the PA served as a reminder that for all the heaviness, brutality and in your face riffs, it’s all about having a damn good time.
Kruelty
Gatecreeper
