At The Gates

Europe 2021 press. Includes a printed lyrics/credits sheet and a double-sided A2 poster. It's the simplicity of Slaughter Of The Soul that made it a classic. Released during melodeath’s ascendancy, it was metal at its most direct: three-minute songs, each built on one or two riffs, that pummelled unrepentantly before vanishing. It was so rapid and episodic that every second, every lyric, every breakdown was an earworm. Nineteen years later, At The Gates’ comeback, At War With Reality, kept the same ingredients as its predecessor, but added to the recipe. The nihilistic wordplay, thrashing refrains and mosh-inciting climaxes were back. However, they were sharing space with closer The Night Eternal’s elongated gloom. Similarly, follow-up To Drink From The Night Itself dabbled in new black/doom undercurrents.