Gatecreeper just surprise-released their new album, An Unexpected Reality

Arizona death metal maestros Gatecreeper have just dropped a surprise new album, An Unexpected Reality.

The new LP – unveiled via Closed Casket Activities – arrives as attention spans shrink and coronavirus continues to dominate the news cycles, say the band.

"I think the social media environment has just fried our attention spans," explains vocalist Chase Mason. "Trying to hold someone's attention for two or three months with a typical album rollout doesn't seem feasible with everything else currently going on in the world."

He also adds of the record: "It's meant to be listened to as a whole, so we didn't wanna break it up or release a couple songs ahead of time as 'singles' or whatever. We also didn't wanna treat it like it's our next full-length. Because it's not."

Read this: The 50 greatest death metal bands in the world right now

The quintet used the COVID-19 pandemic as a chance to write and record An Unexpected Reality, with Gatecreeper revealing that Black Flag's My War was inspiration for it in terms of the half-and-half mix of genres in the tracklist. "I've had the idea to do a record like this for a while," Chase says. "In 2020, we were supposed to be touring all year. Once everything got cancelled, we decided it was the perfect time to turn this idea into a reality."

As well as giving fans a fresh side of the band to digest, Chase continues that it will help Gatecreeper in the future when it comes to more new music. "This release was an opportunity to experiment and expand on different ideas within the Gatecreeper formula," he concludes. "It doesn't necessarily signify a new direction for the band, but we'll definitely have a couple new tools in our toolbox moving forward."

Check the album out now.

If that's not enough Gatecreeper for you, reminisce about just how damn awesome live shows were and watch the band take on The K! Pit:

Read this: How Gatecreeper are leading death metal out of the crypt