At The Gates could not have been the largest band of their technology, however should you’re a millennial or Gen Z metalhead, chances are high your favorite musicians owe the Swedish demise steel trailblazers a debt of gratitude. From as early as 1992 debut album The Crimson In The Sky Is Ours, the Gothenburg five-piece have been out to reshape their style, and their imaginative and prescient lastly caught on with 1995’s Slaughter Of The Soul: a svelte shot of adrenaline that impressed the likes of Trivium, Lamb Of God and lots of different future superstars.
The band who formed the Twenty first-century steel sound sadly didn’t get to revel of their success, as they went on hiatus from 1996 to 2007. Nonetheless, they went on to get pleasure from a well-earned victory lap with their reunion tour and three post-comeback albums. Following the tragic demise of frontman and co-founder Tomas Lindberg aged 52, that is the important information to their oeuvre – with out which, the present face of steel can be very completely different and, most likely, a lot worse.
The Crimson In The Sky Is Ours (1992)
Although At The Gates would change the face of steel by making a few of its most accessible but blistering songs, their early M.O. was primarily the alternative. On The Crimson In The Sky Is Ours and 1993 follow-up With Concern I Kiss The Burning Darkness, ex-guitarist Alf Svensson was a major songwriter, and the band have since admitted that his concepts have been too overblown for their very own good. Their debut album was sprawling, dense and detached to track construction, with violin sections and proggy breaks that have been formidable, completely, however didn’t quantity to greater than the sum of their elements. It’s an anomaly nicely price trying out, albeit removed from At The Gates’ best hour.
With Concern I Kiss The Burning Darkness (1993)
On their final album with Alf Svensson, At The Gates began to trim the fats, with such less complicated songs as Raped By The Gentle Of Christ and The Burning Darkness hinting in the direction of the immediacy they’d sooner or later specialize in. There have been nonetheless meandering monoliths to be discovered, together with the lengthier Primal Breath, however this was a step in the correct path, in addition to the final album to not be made by the band’s basic lineup. Inside a yr of its launch, Svensson stepped all the way down to deal with his full-time job as a tattoo artist, and guitarist Martin Larsson, contemporary from the extra thrash-indebted band The Home Of Usher, was subbed in.
Terminal Spirit Illness (1994)
Meant to be an EP introducing the ‘new’ At The Gates, Terminal Spirit Illness was inflated to album-length due to file label tampering. With the band’s co-founding Björler brothers (guitarist Anders and bassist Jonas) totally accountable for the songwriting, this was a no-nonsense reinvention that signalled nice issues to return. The Swarm transitioned from ominous violin to cathartic thrash/demise riffing, earlier than the title observe made itself an exhilarating showcase for Lindberg’s introspective lyrics, faraway from any semblance of demise steel cliche. “Let your pleasure be actuality! Our struggling life, the dream!” he howled, making a surprisingly motivational and profound assertion for this style right now.
Slaughter Of The Soul (1995)
After Terminal Spirit Illness, At The Gates launched into a UK tour so disastrous that they spent a lot of it stranded in a Norwich automotive park. They returned dwelling pissed off and penniless, however instantly re-entered the studio with producer Fredrik Nordström. The band’s rage combined with the anthemic method they have been already pursuing to make Slaughter Of The Soul a passionate, incensed and palatable masterpiece. The album impressed a number of wannabes, lots of which grouped collectively to kind the New Wave Of American Heavy Steel, however the band didn’t get to revel of their success. In 1996, burnt out by touring and newfound strain, Anders Björler left and the band imploded – they usually wouldn’t return for 11 years.
At Warfare With Actuality (2014)
By 2007, there was a complete technology of At The Gates followers who’d by no means seen the band stay. So, they determined to return again. What was alleged to be a one-off tour rapidly expanded as soon as they re-discovered their love for enjoying collectively, and in 2014 they put out their first album in 19 years. At Warfare With Actuality had all of the drive and existentialism of Slaughter…, however was additionally extra dynamic. There have been extra acoustic guitars and adjustments of tempo, with finale The Evening Everlasting feeling borderline neoclassical because it wrapped up with dovetailing lead guitars. Anticipated for practically 20 years but disappointing to nobody, this was a return that nodded in the direction of previous glories with out repeating them.
To Drink From The Evening Itself (2018)
In 2016, Anders Björler stepped down from At The Gates as soon as once more, however this time the band determined to proceed. They introduced in Jonas Stålhammar (whom they parted methods with in 2022, after he was accused of inappropriate on-line behaviour, solely to convey Anders again) and proceeded with To Drink From The Evening Itself. An idea piece about Peter Weiss’ antifascist novel The Aesthetics Of Resistance, it was the primary At The Gates album to not really feel like not less than one thing of a leap away from its predecessor. Nonetheless, it nonetheless packed some powerhouse moments. The high-octane title observe and blackened groove fest A Stare Certain In Stone have been career-higher achievements, proving the band’s top-notch 2014 comeback was not at all a fluke.
The Nightmare Of Being (2021)
The ultimate At The Gates album launched throughout Lindberg’s lifetime was one thing of a full-circle second. Whereas writing, the band reintegrated their proggier influences: one thing they hadn’t actually touched upon for the reason that early 90s. The Nightmare Of Being was probably the most expansive of their post-reunion work, that includes the seven-minute orchestral suite The Fall Into Time, but that broadened scope didn’t come on the expense of any focus. Spectre Of Extinction was an absolute blitzkrieg, and Cult Of Salvation’s krautrock detours did nothing to dent its choruses. Lindberg recorded vocals for a follow-up earlier than he died, but when this finally ends up being his remaining At The Gates outing, he bowed out with one in all his best efforts.
