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At the Gates | |
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 At the Gates atWacken Open Air 2022 | |
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| Origin | Gothenburg, Sweden |
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| Website | www |
At the Gates is a Swedishmelodic death metal band fromGothenburg, formed in 1990. The band was a major progenitor of Gothenburg-stylemelodic death metal alongsideIn Flames andDark Tranquillity. Prior to their first disbandment in 1996, At the Gates released four albums, ending with and includingSlaughter of the Soul (1995), which has been seen as a landmark in the mid-1990sSwedish death metal scene.[2] After reuniting for a one-off tour in 2008, the band reformed once again in 2011, and they have since released three more albums:At War with Reality (2014),To Drink from the Night Itself (2018) andThe Nightmare of Being (2021).
At the Gates were formed in late 1990 by former members of thedeath andblack metal bandGrotesque. They recorded a debutEP,Gardens of Grief, for theDolores record label.[3] The EP led the labelPeaceville Records to sign the band, and they released their debut album,The Red in the Sky Is Ours in 1992.[3]
After the recording of their second studio album,With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness, founding member and guitaristAlf Svensson left the band in 1993,[3] to pursue tattoo artistry, graphic novel illustration and his solo electronic-opera-black metal project, Oxiplegatz. He was soon replaced by formerHouse of Usher guitaristMartin Larsson,[3] who the band knew from underground tape trading. The band continued touring Europe, and were filmed for aHeadbangers Ball special feature in Nottingham, England in July 1993.
In 1994, At the Gates released their third album,Terminal Spirit Disease, which was hailed as a breakthrough album.[4]
The band continued touring and in 1995 released their most commercially and critically successful album:Slaughter of the Soul, onEarache Records.[3] The album is regarded as their strongest death metal effort, compared to previous albums.[5] This album firmly rooted the band as one of the leaders of the Swedish metal scene, the "Gothenburg sound" of melodic death metal.[6] The band received international attention for the album, gaining them several U.S. tours and heavy rotation of themusic video for "Blinded by Fear" onMTV in the United States, but despite this international success, the Björler brothers departed in 1996.[3] The remaining members decided it would be impossible to continue without them, so the band broke up.[7]
When At the Gates broke up in 1996, drummerAdrian Erlandsson, bassistJonas Björler, and guitaristAnders Björler formedThe Haunted.[3]Tomas Lindberg went on working with different bands includingSkitsystem,The Crown,Lock Up, andNightrage. Erlandsson left in 1999 to joinCradle of Filth. In 2001,Peaceville Records released an At the Gates retrospective calledSuicidal Final Art.
On 18 October 2007, At the Gates announced several reunion shows for mid-2008, including Getafe Electric Festival,Roskilde Festival,Ruisrock,Wacken Open Air,Graspop Metal Meeting,Sweden Rock Festival,Gods of Metal,Hellfest Summer Open Air andBloodstock Open Air,[8] as well as a tour of Japan withThe Dillinger Escape Plan,Into Eternity,Pig Destroyer, andMayhem in May 2008.[9] Throughout July 2008, they toured the US and Canada on what was dubbed the "Suicidal Final Tour",[10] and played their final UK show at Bloodstock Open Air on Sunday on 17 August 2008. They finished their last show inAthens,Greece, with guestThe Ocean on 21 September 2008. The band's performance at Wacken Open Air in 2008 is available onThe Flames of the End DVD boxed set, which also includes clips of songs from other venues and a documentary that covers the history of the band in its entirety.
On 21 January 2014, At the Gates released a video on YouTube showing a distorted video with lines of text on it, followed by text saying "2014", possibly hinting toward possible lyrics for an upcoming album. On 27 January, the band revealed on Facebook via a new cover photo and profile picture, that their confirmed fifth record would be titledAt War with Reality and would be released in the fall of 2014 throughCentury Media.[11]
When asked whetherAt War with Reality is At the Gates' final album or if the band will continue recording,Tomas Lindberg replied, "We can't say really. We have no plans of stopping but we've broken promises before so it's best not to say anything."[12] In numerous recent interviews members of the band have expressed interest in doing a follow-up album. At the Gates concluded the touring cycle forAt War with Reality in August 2016 with a festival appearance atElb Riot in Hamburg, Germany.
On 8 March 2017, in an official statement released by the band, they announced thatAnders Björler had departed from the band. Despite Anders' departure, they went on to confirm that they were working on a follow-up to 2014'sAt War with Reality, which they were aiming to record and release in 2018.[13] In September 2017, Jonas Stålhammar was announced as the new guitarist to take the place of Björler on a permanent basis, but he had joined too late to be involved in the writing process of the new album. They entered the studio to begin recording the album in November 2017, titledTo Drink from the Night Itself, which was released through Century Media Records on 18 May 2018.
At the Gates released their seventh studio album,The Nightmare of Being, on 2 July 2021.[14] While the album remains rooted in the Gothenburg metal tradition, it also features a wider range of musical styles, influences, and instrumentation. The ideas in the album are influenced by the writings of horror philosophers such asThomas Ligotti andEugene Thacker.[15]
On 23 July 2022, At the Gates announced the departure of Stålhammar.[16] On 5 October, the band announced that original guitarist Anders Björler had rejoined the band.[17] They are now working on their 8th studio album following the return of Björler.
At the Gates' musical style has been described asmelodic death metal[18][2] anddeath metal.[19] The band's early work presented a "progressive, complex way of crafting songs of dextrous[sic] melodic fluidity and variation", which would influence technical death metal, but also the black metal ofDarkthrone'sTransilvanian Hunger, for instance.[20] Most of this material was composed byAlf Svensson, who, according to guitaristAnders Björler, fused the Swedish melancholy ofNordic folk music with death metal andclassical music.[21]
The style of later At the Gates "would inspire the wholeGothenburg region",[22] but as Svensson had left the band, the commercial breakthroughSlaughter of the Soul was composed of more traditional song structures:[23] "[...] a stripped-down, no-frills melodic death album that hit all the basic points of the style".[5]
At the Gates were nominated for a Swedish Grammy (Grammis) forSlaughter of the Soul in 1996, but didn't win.[24]They won the Swedish Grammy (Grammis) in February 2015 for the 2014 comeback albumAt War with Reality.[25]The band were also awarded the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Inspiration Award in June 2015.[26]
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