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Iron Gate: New Hampshire Band Showcases the Moshers in “Ego Trip” Music Video

Photo: Phillip Gibson

We’re settling back into the brutal winter up here in New England once again and it’s time for the musical landscape to get dark and brutal again. Of course, that’s all I listen to in the other 11 months out of the year but that’s neither here nor there. Either way, it’s now 2025 and I’m gonna start off with some of the most violent music out of New Hampshire, Iron Gate.

I spoke with them back in 2023 when they dropped their debut EP Throne of the False God, 6 songs containing some of the most mountainous riffs and guttural vocal work that’d been blasted into my ears. Straddling the line between slammy death metal and heavy hardcore the band quickly caught attention within a scene containing many great heavy hitters like Blood Tithe and Heavyweight.

Catching up with the band I found that they have switched around the lineup adding drummer Zach Abbate from Groaning Retch, Rosegold Blindfold, and Deep Fear as well as Todd Mcardel (ex Altar of Nex) on guitars.

Since their debut, Iron Gate have released a string of singles to keep the momentum going, dropping “Pill Pusher” and “Cursed” in 2024 showing even heavier progression from their first EP. Talking to lead vocalist Jeff, he stated that the songs tackle such topics as Big Pharma and organized religion, respectively. The band's sound with these new tracks maintains their thunderous onslaught brought on by their death metal leanings but they also inject influences from the metalcore and hardcore blueprints.

“The Acacia Strain and Bodysnatcher have been large influences but also bands like Varials (the earlier stuff), OBW and even stretching to bands like Corpse Pile and I Am,” Jeff stated.

Iron Gate closed out 2024 with their third single of the year, “Ego Trip,” another crushing track that seethes with rage as Jeff belts out his frustrations toward backstabbing friends that have come and gone in his life. Commenting on the lyrics, Jeff admitted, “There’s so many people out there that are just trying to get ahead of you without regard for you or how you feel. They leave you behind and it sucks. I’m super over letting people do that to me and so a lot of the new stuff I’m writing is callouts and fuck you’s because I just don’t care anymore and I want to express how I feel instead of keeping it bottled up.”

Photo: Julian Ingram

To elevate the experience, Iron Gare recorded a music video at Crunch House. “Our good friend Julian Ingram from a band called Motherwell came out to the show and filmed it. He had a rough draft for us the day after the show. It was honestly insane,” explained Jeff. The video features the band ripping through the song in the tiny venue as the crowd fights for their godforsaken lives:

Recalling the "Ego Trip" shoot, Matt explained just how crazy things got at the small venue. “We pulled up at the place and it was this old factory building that they made into a venue, the room was like this old dirty break room that they just hooked a PA up to and said, 'Yeah, have fun.' 

"The room could maybe fit like 30 people comfortably and I think they squeezed like 70 in. The whole show went fucking off for every band and everybody kicked the fuck out of each other the whole night, like a chick broke her arm from hitting someone so fucking hard and had to get rushed to the hospital it was fucked.”

Coming into 2025, Iron Gate is fully committed right now to recording their follow up EP which will contain completely new songs that have not yet been released. “We’re taking a bit of time off at the beginning of the year to write and record and fine tune our next release, re-upping on merch and designs so that we can hit the ground hard once March rolls around. We have a few shows planned after that point, and are eyeing a 5-day run in summer as well as several weekenders,” Zach told me.

The three singles they’ve released serve as an example of how much Iron Gate has expanded their sound and they plan to make the follow up EP just as harsh and crushing as these three songs.

Iron Gate have announced that they will be headlining a show at Warship in New Bedford, Massachusetts on April 19th alongside Cropsey, Tar, Cold Case BHC, and Heavyweight which will serve as Cold Case’s last show. As of right now, that is their only show they have announced while they spend more time on their EP. Keep an eye out on their social media for any further announcements.

Iron Gate would like to shout out: Chained, Raptured, Keepsake, Edict, Shapethrower, Ratblood, Burying Point, Bound CT and Hell Bent Booking.

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Iron Gate on social media: Facebook | Instagram

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