(written by Islander)
Let’s start with a “FFO” reference for Devil’s Gateway that you should find interesting, though maybe perplexing: Sacrilege, Axegrinder, Amebix, Prophecy of Doom, early Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, Godflesh, Deviated Instinct, Bolt Thrower.
In my case, all those names ring like golden chimes. But thinking about how all those influences would blend together leaves a big question mark, especially because I was not familiar with Devil’s Gateway before we were asked to host the premiere of a song (with lyric video) that will soon be placed before you.
What I’ve since learned is that the band started in 2023 as a duo of Harri Kuokkanen (Hooded Menace, Hail Conjurer, and more) playing all instruments and Hanna Virranpää doing all vocals. In that same year they released a demo (Mastery of Nature) and a first album named Eternal Grind. The next year they continued with an EP, Promised Land/No Escape.
Now these two have a second album ready to go, and have been joined for forthcoming live performances by a bunch of other talented musicians (more on that later).
The name of the new album is Shreds of Life. It will be released on February 28th by a trio of labels. Devil’s Gateway have given us this description of their thematic focus:
The songs of Devil’s Gateway deal with the animal rights issues and the dead ends of the anthropocentric and male-dominated worldview, the distress of the non-human world and the ecological downfall.
The song we’re presenting today is “Wasteland Sanctuary“. The title could refer to a sanctuary in the wasteland, or to making the wasteland itself a sanctuary because nothing else is left, but the lyrics point to a third meaning: That humankind, in serving its ravenous appetites, is extinguishing the sanctuaries of the earth, and raising this question: Can life prevail in the wasteland we are making?
In the song, the words come out in both fiery punk cries and bestial death roars, an intense experience in both dimensions. The riffing is equally intense — a dense, vicious, and abrasive churn, with rumbling thunder in the low end and electric beats that crack like whips and rattle like gunfire.
As the riffing shifts, the music creates moods of dread and distress while the rhythms continue to slug and batter. And then the music changes again in a long instrumental phase, still dense and even more immersive but also more distressing and bleak – a despairing vision of spreading ruin.
But thanks in part to an explosive drum performance, the music seems to surge as well as wail and moan, and then to attack.
Devil’s Gateway depict their music as “a heavy blend of death/crust metal with a hint of death/doom”, and that hits the mark in the case of “Wasteland Sanctuary.”
This isn’t the only song from Shreds of Life that’s available for listening. There is also a previous single from the album, “Urge To Kill,” released last fall, and another one named “The Fall of Man“. Both of them are just as grim and fiery, and just as gripping, as the song we’ve just premiered.
The furious and full-throttle “Urge To Kill” leans more into the band’s crust punk side, and the soloing spits fire like an out-of-control acetylene torch, while “The Fall of Man” is eerily haunting and softly grief-stricken at first, and then transforms into a darkly imperious and ruthlessly bone-smashing march, hellish in its aspects and also feral in its violence. In both of them, the vocals are again shattering, and Harri Kuokkanen‘s drumming is a non-stop thrill.
Shreds of Life was recorded and mixed in July and August last year. It was mastered by the masterful Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, and it features cover artwork by Veehell and a logo by Samuel E. Thomas.
As mentioned earlier, Shreds of Life will be released on February 28th by a trio of labels: on LP by Crypt of the Wizard; on cassette tape by Natural Sciences; and on CD by the band’s own label, Death Grind Records. You can find more info about those offerings via the links below.
Also as mentioned earlier, the band have expanded from a duo in preparation for live performances slated to begin in April 2025 (see the poster below!). The new members are: Timo Ketola (Caskets Open) on bass, and Jennika Vikman (Unearthly Rites) and Kaino Tervahauta (Ruusuriimu) on guitars. Hanna Virranpää will still take care of the vocal duties, and Harri Kuokkanen will reign over the drum kit.
MORE INFO:
https://cryptofthewizard.bandcamp.com/album/shreds-of-life
https://naturalsciences.bandcamp.com/album/shreds-of-life
https://devilsgateway.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/devilsgatewayband/
