So almost all Metal bands I listen to would probably credit At the Gates and for very good reason. At the Gates are a hugely influential band in all modern genres of metal and have been stated as sparking of a lot of sub genres within metal and giving birth to countless legendary and unique bands of the current age.
“At War with Reality” is no exception to At The Gates phenomenal discography and will have every fan of the Gothenburg quintet jumping with excitement for the full-length album soon to be released. It bring all the excitement that we first heard in songs like “Under a Serpent Sun” and “Blinded By Fear” from At The Gates 4th studio album “Slaughter of the Soul” with some awesome and new yet familiar riffs that fit right in at home with the bands melodic death style.
The intro to the song has a slight hint of black metal feel to it, not unusual for the band, which is down to the chord progressions heard that are very reminiscent of early Emperor but still include those classic metalcore-esque riffs that At The Gates are famous for.
At 41, Tomas Lindberg is showing no signs of wear or tear delivering an incredible performance that could rival any younger metal vocalist of 2014. Nothing sounds pushed, forced or too much for Lindberg as he gets through the track with an immense, aggressive force. To go along with this powerful vocal track, Adrien Erlandsson has laid down some pounding drums that can, again, match beats from any young metal drummer of the current time. At The Gates are really showing they can still keep up with today’s modern extreme metal bands and are still proving to us that they truly are masters of Melodic Death Metal.
Now to move swiftly on to the guitars as I feel it’s these parts that people could criticize the most. Now this song is an absolute storm of killer riffs and licks all the way through out and does not let up for one second which is absolutely great and fine with me but all the riffs are very “At the Gates” sounding. There’s not much new happening with the riffs which some people could find boring and feel that maybe the band are playing it a bit safe and sticking to what they know to feel confident they will release a ‘good’ album instead of experimenting a little and possibly making a masterpiece. I, however, would disagree and say yes, maybe the riffs are very At The Gates sounding but that’s definitely not a bad thing! At The Gates riffs are f***ing awesome! But it’s not just that, it’s also the first new song we’re hearing from At The Gates in almost 20 years. Of course they’re going to release a song that’s in similar taste with the older stuff. I’m confident At The Gates will have a fresh sounding album with new hooks and lines that could give rise to another wave of inspiration for great young musicians everywhere. Until the album is released we cannot know but I have every faith in the Titans that are At The Gates.
Century Media Records will release “At War With Reality” on October 28th.
– Chris Kemp
