Iron Reagan & Gatecreeper - Split

Following their energetic, but campy retro-thrash effort last year, Iron Reagan has returned quickly with few more minutes of less memorable crossover thrash in exactly the same vein most of their 2017 album ran through. I know it’s not supposed to be the most serious stuff out there, but even from just a musical standpoint, it’s so boring and autopilot I don’t know who’s getting excited for thrash in the 21st century because of music like this. The riffs are unexciting, the vocals are homogenous, and the band go through basically the same patterns and the same tempo on every song. There’s no way this wasn’t a way to make use of some leftovers or just flat-out rushed and first-drafted.
Gatecreeper’s three contributions sound like a much more thought out, small EP’s worth of material, with “Daybreak” transitioning smoothly into the death metal pummel of “Dead Inside”. It’s still not the most unique material the band has to offer and it probably won’t be turning too many heads, but it’s surely livelier than Iron Reagan’s side. The very Slayer-esque whammy bar wailing on “Dead Inside” I suppose counts as the tie to thrash that puts these two together on the same disc. “War Has Begun” keeps the attitude vicious and ends the short stint on a good note.

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