At The Gates – The Nightmare Of Being
Release Date: 2nd July 2021
Label: Century Media Records
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Genre: Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal.
FFO: The Crown, The Lurking Fear, Bombs Of Hades, The Haunted, Dark Tranquility, Ceremonial Oath.
Review By: Ian Sky
Opening statements: When I first heard At The Gates they had already separated and were involved with or becoming involved with new projects (The Haunted, Cradle Of Filth, Skitsystem and my personal favorite band, The Crown, just to name a few.) As a result, I could hardly believe it when they announced their reformation for the 2008 Suicidal Final Tour, which was still one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen! Beyond that… I nearly shit my pants with excitement when, in 2011, they announced plans to release a brand new music and organize subsequent U.S. tours, all of which I have been fortunate enough to attend! Including the At War With Reality tour where, after going nuts the entire time, Adrian Erlandsson personally handed my brother and I keepsakes from the show! 10 years and a worldwide plague after officially reforming and picking up where they left off in 1996, At The Gates continues to be one of the most awe-inspiring and technically proficient bands of all time. Their third release since reuniting, The Nightmare Of Being, only serves to further those facts much the same way that At War With Reality and To Drink From The Night Itself did.
With their 7th full-length studio release the Gothenburg sovereigns are in true and proper form as they carve a sonic path of destruction from start to finish! Every song is maniacal, methodical, masterfully crafted and deserving of praise not only as individual pieces but also as a perfectly structured, synergistic and complete work of art that is dark, heavy, melodic, vicious, philosophical, existential, morbid and astonishing. Simply put, The Nightmare Of Being is a thirst-quenching display of At The Gates‘ full knowledge, experience and prowess!
Cross examination: In a brilliant maneuver the album opens with the first two singles (Spectre Of Extinction and The Paradox) in proper order. This is a wonderful set-up as it leaves the rest of the album open entirely to imagination and observation. Beyond that, these two tracks are all that you could ask for from ATG. The Paradox, in particular, is some of the greatest lyrical work that Tomas Lindberg has ever put forth! It is moribund, imaginative, thought-provoking, poignant and an all around stellar effort from one of the most productive frontmen of all time.
As we delve into the unknown depths of the rest of The Nightmare Of Being, it is impossible to not be fully satisfied and even awestruck by every aspect. The title track marks the first shift in parameter as we make the journey through this album and is a perfect example of building on sonic foundations of Earth-shattering proportions.
With Garden of Cyrus, a certain madness is unveiled that is beyond anything that has been approached by any other Death Metal band that I have ever heard. All on its own, it is one of the most dynamic, astounding and perplexing examples of their work that leaves you asking, ‘How the fuck did they even think of that?!’ But remember, this is At The Gates and they are well-known for accomplishing that which no one else had previously thought of!
Continuing after such insanity, Touched By The White Hands Of Death elucidates the thematic connections not only between the songs on this album but also on everything they have ever written and released. It is a picture-perfect ATG song and is clearly (as is the entire release) a culmination of all that they have done and intended to do thus far.
Proceeding to the third single off of the album, The Fall Into Time, we see an example of how closely related Gothenburg Metal is to Classical Music. (Similar to the example provided by the Old Man’s Child song, ‘Towards Eternity‘.) As well as some of the most delicious musicianship on the album which is vibrantly provided by Adrian Erlandsson and Jonas Bjöler through their exhibition of gestalt skill and brilliant execution.
At this point in The Nightmare Of Being, we are provided with the next phase of the album and return to the rhythmic and neck-breaking pace that we normally expect, in the form of the rapidly grinding dirge that is Cult Of Salvation and the pure frenzied wrath of The Abstract Enthroned both of which are, yet again, exactly what you would expect from a band with such experience in the innovation and evolution of Metal.
The penultimate display of audio slaughter sounds as if it could have fit nicely into any number of Melodic Death Metal albums from the late ’90’s and beyond. In keeping with the musical style that At The Gates innovated, developed and perfected, Cosmic Pessimism is nothing short of an outstanding and textbook example of how Gothenburg Metal is done! And so many sounds and images are conjured just by reading the title of the album’s final hymn to oblivion, Eternal Winter Of Reason. A song which unfurls as the total amalgamation of style and skill of everyone in At The Gates and thus closes The Nightmare Of Being in a flawless way!
Closing remarks: At The Gates has done it again! I would not be the least bit surprised if this album was as heavily discussed and vividly remembered as any of their previous outings. The dimensions and layers of this album, their significance to one another, the connection to all they had created before and the depth of meaning behind the lyrics throughout this entire effort are notions that can and should be revered for decades to come. The super-shredder tag team of guitarists Martin Larsson and Jonas Stålhammar created some of the most intense and diverse work of either of their stellar careers and also outperforms many of their previous endeavors. Jonas Bjöler‘s effort while playing bass matches the absolute apex of anything that he has recorded before and displays his skill as nothing else to this point has. As always, Adrian Erlandsson‘s flawless drumming performance is thunderous, complex, dynamic, psychotic and masterful for the duration of the album. And Tomas Lindberg is… well, you know. He’s Tompa! One of the best lyricists and frontmen of all time and those facts shine through as he displays his own lyrical flavor and vocal ability on this recording just as he has on every recording!
Verdict: This album kicked my mind in the ass! I can assure you that At The Gates has returned with another unrelenting gift of proper Gothenburg Metal! It is reminiscent of all of their previous albums while simultaneously being completely new, exhilarating and refreshing! So, if you haven’t done it yet… Do yourself a favor and order this vicious, incredible, beautiful, fascinating and totally brutal album! Of course, once you hit play for the first time, if you feel compelled to headbang and scream along after a few moments of listening, do not be troubled… The desire to mosh, thrash and howl only indicates that you are still sane.
Additional: On a personal note, I’d like to add that a few days after I received this album for review, my family suffered its greatest collective loss. One of the few sources of solace I found in coping with such sorrow was this album. From time to time we are gifted with something which eases our strife in such difficult times. As we all know, a modicum of relief can also be brought about through having the right music at the right time. The Nightmare Of Being did just that and did it precisely when I was in need.
(5 / 5)
