'Iron Gauntlet' by GAM – Blackened Death Metal Worth Your Attention

“…going to scratch that itch like a poison ivy rash in corpse paint…”

What happens when a black metal band gets tired of just tremolo-picking through the occult masses and decides to throw hands in the pit? You get something like Iron Gauntlet, the upcoming EP from Swedish blackened death metal unit Gam—a band that knows how to groove, blast, stomp, and shriek their way through the abyss.

Formed in 2011 under the name Vulture (which, let’s be real, was probably already taken by five other bands and a bird sanctuary), Gam draws blood from the veins of Immortal and Deicide alike. The result? A tight, 19-minute affair that doesn’t overstay its welcome and throws just enough curveballs to keep your neck sore.

The first half of the EP leans into the black metal swamp with tracks like “In the Absence of Light” and “Wounds of God.” Expect all the hallmarks: rapid-fire tremolo picking, blast beats like a war drum in hyperspeed, and low, echo-drenched vocals that sound like they were recorded inside a cathedral made entirely of bone dust. It’s grim, it’s punishing, and it’s exactly the kind of thing to make underground black metal fans sit up and hiss approvingly.

But just when you think Gam’s sticking to the frostbitten script, they drop “Begging for the Whip,” a sludgy, death metal stomp that slows everything to a crawl. The guitar tones get fuzzed out like your old amp fried on a bad power grid, and the groove locks into a four-on-the-floor beat that demands a slow headbang in the candlelit basement of your nightmares.

“Worship and Obey” brings the speed back, but interestingly, the death metal edge lingers. The tremolo picking remains, but the energy is more Floridian than Norwegian, with a surprising mid-song slowdown that briefly opens a portal to doomier territory—before snapping back into a frantic finale like nothing happened.

There’s some genuine variation across the runtime, especially in the latter half, but the band never strays too far from their core aesthetic. It's about as blackened death as metal can get without melting into noise. Some tracks feel longer than they are, but with a runtime of only 19 minutes, there’s zero chance this EP will blur together across listens.

If you're a fan of underground black metal with a taste for swampy death grooves and satanic stomp, Iron Gauntlet is going to scratch that itch like a poison ivy rash in corpse paint. A solid offering from a band that knows exactly what it is and what corners of hell to raid for riffs.