Sometimes I fall into a bit of imposter syndrome within most aspects of my life. That is never more prevalent than when I am engaged in the act of creating music and reviewing other bands. This is especially true in the context of bands that are comprised of established musicians forming a “super group”. The fear I have is in not being well-versed in each member’s original bands’ full discographies. Will I be seen as a fraud because I wasn’t aware of X, Y, AND Z? Will my words be scoffed at? Will someone be waiting outside my door with a poster reading “POSER”? This is, of course, deranged modes of thinking and their relevance is essentially nil since none of that should factor into the discussion of a specfic piece of art. Suffice to say, I will now shut the fuck up about myself and focus, instead, on the subject of this most recent WSHP! album review. Thank you for indulging my psychoses.

Heaven’s Gate of the sunshine state have dropped a fucking ripper of an LP with Tales From A Blistering Paradise. The band is a who’s who of heavy music featuring vocalist Tony Foresta (Municipal Waste, Iron Reagan), drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz (Cannibal Corpse), guitarist Mike Goo (Warthog, Witchtrial), and bassist Jeff Howe (Reversal of Man, Combatwoundedveteran). After delivering a powerful 5 song self-titled EP in 2023, these veterans upped the ante. An amalgamation of hardcore, punk, blast, and thrash, Heaven’s Gate are all at once the sum of their parts and yet still fresh and exciting. Obviously, the years spent creating heavy music have aided the band in picking the very best fruit from the thorny vine and shoving it, unpeeled, down your fucking throat.

Every song on Tales From A Blistering Paradise wastes zero time in getting to the point: one of the benefits of being a hardcore punk outfit. There are no frills, just runaway trains in the form of songs. Back-to-back tracks “Bog Bodies” and “Blood and Guts” exemplify this ethos as Paul abuses his drum kit throughout; not to mention the sick ass little solo bass section of “Bog Bodies” giving space for Jeff to shine. “Blood and Guts” finds opportunity to smash your face with a hammer in the form of well-placed blast beats. Want more Cannibal feel? How about “Walls”? If you don’t headbang your cranium off of your neck to this song then you might actually be fucking dead. All the while Tony bestowing on us a message seemingly from the point of view of some otherwordly spirit waiting to attack, “Living. Breathing. Watching. I’m in your walls!”.

“The Causeway Cannibal” is the cream that rises to the top for me on this record. It is a track of blistering heat searing your soles, two step opportunities to fill your soul, and ditches the sole effort of Tony by recruiting Becca Polak to open the song with vicious vocals seeped in violence. How could I forget to heap some praise upon guitarist Mike Goo? The dude is no novice to playing fast and dirty and trying to hit hardcore punk ludicrous speed. The crossover genre that so many bands attempt nowadays is expertly portrayed here. I would say this song exhibits inspiration from so-and-so band but honestly, “The Causeway Cannibal” is a mix of every band that every member of Heaven’s Gate was/is in. Can you inspire yourself? I think this song is a resounding “fuck yes”.

Heaven’s Gate describes themselves as hardcore punk and while that may seem limiting to what they actually put on tape, the ethos behind that description holds so fucking true on Tales From A Blistering Paradise. There are so many aspects to enjoy culminating from the years of experience amassed by each gent in the group. While the death metal face melting may be tempered to a singeing and the thrash ripping dialed down to a tearing, the ability to coalesce these styles is a skill unto itself. These Tampa dudes know the recipe so eat the fuck up.

• Fav song: “The Causeway Cannibal”

FFO: crossover, hardcore punk, Gulf of Mexico, cannibals, municipalities, two steps, headbanging

Follow this fucking link to listen and while you’re there, fucking buy something from the band:

https://heavensgatefl.bandcamp.com/album/tales-from-a-blistering-paradise

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