There must be very few people who call themselves extreme metal fans and do not know of the legendary At The Gates. The seminal Swedish band’s legacy is still seen today in myriad forms; from hundreds of sound-alike Swedish melodic death metal bands to ultra-trendy deathcore bands across the globe. For the uninitiated few – At The Gates are (or rather were) a ground-breaking death metal band from Sweden, most active during the early nineties (death metal’s heyday for a lot of people). At a time when a lot of death metal was either `American sounding’ or `Swedish sounding’, At The Gates managed to set themselves apart from all other bands with their highly original approach, which incorporated large doses of classical, progressive and avantegarde music, and some incredibly epic harmonies.
This re-release of their second album also includes a DVD containing rare footage of a gig in Groningen in 1992, plus some extremely fascinating and insightful liner notes by vocalist Tomas Lindberg. The DVD has been taken straight from a VHS tape, and also includes parts where the tape warps and the picture disappears! In it, we a see a young and rather self-conscious band playing the type of gig that all bands must have played at some point in their careers – a small stage, a small audience and not very much in the way of light! The first two songs in particular seem to be played in near darkness, how the band can see what they are playing is anyone’s guess – but still they give an incredibly powerful and tight performance. Despite the `underground’ quality, the intensity of the early material comes across well – the sound is unusually clear, which does the music justice – but unfortunately exposes how few people there were in the audience!
As for the album itself – it is classic, underground At The Gates. Very much a follow-on from `The Red in the Sky is Ours’, the songs are distinctly uncommercial and display the band’s `anything goes’ experimental approach. Each song twists and turns violently from one mood, rhythm or theme to another – the results are often incredible, revelatory, but occasionally confusing and over-complex as well. This is not the gargantuan masterpiece `Slaughter Of The Soul’ but something more underground and in some ways more extreme.
The album as a whole is blisteringly intense, but not in the ultra-brutal head-smashing way we now expect from death metal. In some ways, this album may appear slightly dated because it is not full of blast beats and inhuman grunting – however it contains a different type of intensity altogether. Differing melodies intertwine with each other from all angles, sudden time changes completely transform songs mid-riff, and it feels like we are being pulled through every extreme emotion ever felt; rage, sorrow, elation, hatred etc (OK you can call me pretentious if you like!). Tomas Lindberg’s vocals screech out the obscure, poetic and philosophical lyrics like a man at the very edge of sanity – no Swedish death metal pun intended! This album is the sound of a band putting everything they have into their art, every influence and idea crammed into eleven explosive songs.
With Lindberg’s harsh and unusual vocal style, combined with the band’s original song-writing approach, At The Gates had already distanced themselves from the crowd, and seventeen years later there are few bands in the extreme metal scene that can match them for originality, creativity and intensity.
http://www.atthegates.se/site
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