ALBUM REVIEW: At The Gates, ‘To Drink From The Night Itself’

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 18/05/2018

Label: Century Media Records

 The omnipresent malevolence that coats the majority of the album gives it a different feel from the rest of the band’s catalog. At The Gates do their best to get the best of both worlds: acting as an agent of fan service and staying in their own lane, while also using broad strokes to give the old sound a new context. 

‘To Drink From the Night Itself’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Der Widerstand

2. To Drink from the Night Itself

3. A Stare Bound in Stone

4. Palace of Lepers

5. Daggers of Black Haze

6. The Chasm

7. In Nameless Sleep

8. The Colours of the Beast

9. A Labyrinth of Tombs

10. Seas of Starvation

11. In Death They Shall Burn

12. The Mirror Black

The Review:

At The Gates, being in the At The Gates nostalgia business, have returned to be really good at being a version of At The Gates that you’d like to hear, as a fan of At The Gates. I know how that read just now, and I don’t care: it’s fucking accurate. They’re a band intent on crafting the best nostalgia album they can, and they’ve done a exceptional job of meeting those goals here. They’ve taken the moody atmosphere of ‘With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness’, gussied it up with a modern studio production, a touch of added darkness, and plugged it into the “Slaughter of The Soul 5000”, their patented nostalgia refinement machine.

The end result is ‘To Drink From The Night Itself’: the album morose death metal folks of a certain age are sure to enjoy enough to spend money on. And bless them for it too! The last thing we need is Jonas Björler getting some wild “got to keep up with the times” hair up his ass, like his other band The Haunted did, and you might remember how long it took them to right that ship once they set sail upon that sea.

The formula for this album is pretty straightforward: you’ve got your slower, melodic parts that range from mournful twin harmonies to murky atmospheric darkness. And then you’ve got your uptempo Slayer beat stuff, which I affectionately referred to as the “Slaughter of the Soul 5000” machine earlier. That’s the stuff meant to get your “Blinded By Fear” glands salivating, like Pavlov’s dog whenever Pavlov entered the room. It’s all very comfortable, like a warm sweater and a cup of hot cocoa at the start of winter.

Here’s the fucked up thing: At The Gates nostalgia baiting us for forty-five minutes still makes for one of the finer death metal albums of the year, and they sound like they’re barely trying. The band are an inexorable monolith of “remember the good old days” emotions here, and all we can do is continue to be fascinated and entranced by it. We’re powerless to resist the charm of familiarity, and really why would we want to? There’s no harm in it.

While that “warm sweater of fond melodeath remembrance” I mentioned earlier is certainly a huge part of why ‘To Drink From The Night Itself’ works so well, it would be unfair to say that the album doesn’t have its own character. They’re especially fond of using those deep, resonant chords for building atmosphere on this album, which gives the album a more menacing feeling altogether. In fact, you could call this At The Gates’ darkest album to date, and have a solid case for that belief. ‘With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness’ was more gloomy than outright ominous, and this album is firmly planted on that second word’s side of things.

For all of my needling the album for playing it safe, ‘To Drink From The Night Itself’ is a big improvement over ‘At War With Reality’. The parts of the album meant to give you a cozy trip down memory lane do so remarkably. The omnipresent malevolence that coats the majority of the album gives it a different feel from the rest of the band’s catalog. At The Gates do their best to get the best of both worlds: acting as an agent of fan service and staying in their own lane, while also using broad strokes to give the old sound a new context. This album is the musical equivalent of reuniting with old friends at your favorite old hangout spot and having a great time, even if the place doesn’t look quite like it did before. An occasion like that is virtually guaranteed to be a joy for you because it was the safest choice to bring you that joy in the first place. Does that really diminish the experience any for you? It didn’t for me.

‘To Drink From the Night Itself’ is available digitally here and on CD/LP here.

Band info: Facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Witchery - “In His Infernal Majesty's Service”

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 25/11/2016

Label: Century Media Records

The riffage is superb throughout, as is the production- being as it is raw and noisy and thus perfect for this type of music. “The Burning of Salem” is as fast as it is dark, while “Gilded Fang” is a short storm of riffs and blasts. Frankly, it is hard to pick stand-outs here. The album is uniformly good. Unsung heroes of Swedish metal to a large extent, I urge you to check this album out and then work back through “Witchkrieg” and beyond.

“In His Infernal Majesty's Service” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Lavey-athon

2). Zoroast

3). Netherworld Empire

4). Nosferatu

5). The Burning of Salem

6). Gilded Fang

7). Empty Tombs

8). In Warm Blood

9). Escape from Dunwich Valley

10). Feed The Gun

The Review:

Witchery, now nearly twenty years into their existence, return here some six years after the nasty and excellent “Witchkrieg”. The album finds the band still ploughing the blackened thrash furrow- and their efforts still yield an impressive crop of riffs and songs.

The punningly titled “Lavey-athan” kicks things off in thrashing style, while “Zoroast” takes a more rock n roll type approach- with effective results. Elsewhere, the thrash is firmly back; “Netherworld Empire” is the type of rampaging beast that The Haunted used to make before they lost their way. “Nosferatu” continues the underworld themes with a rather classic alt-Slayer pacing and flavour and a catchy (yes) chorus. Storming stuff, so it is.

The riffage is superb throughout, as is the production- being as it is raw and noisy and thus perfect for this type of music. “The Burning of Salem” is as fast as it is dark, while “Gilded Fang” is a short storm of riffs and blasts. Frankly, it is hard to pick stand-outs here. The album is uniformly good. Nothing lets the side down, nothing stands out for the wrong reasons. “Empty Tombs” is a concise thrasher, “In Warm Blood” is a mid-paced rocker... there are no holes to pick here. There is even a Lovecraft inspired track in “Escape From Dunwich Valley” (which is awesome, incidentally).

By the time of the two closing tracks of identical length, “Feed The Gun” and “Oath Breaker”, you will have been well and truly thrashed. Line up changes have not dulled this band's potency one iota. The macabre humour remains, the song writing is as sharp as ever. Witchery are most certainly back and have made yet another great record. Unsung heroes of Swedish metal to a large extent, I urge you to check this album out and then work back through “Witchkrieg” and beyond.

“In His Infernal Majesty's Service” is available now

Band info: facebook

The Resistance - 'Torture Tactics' EP (Review)

‘A hardcore/punk/crust infused affair with the requisite snot and bile.’

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 27/02/2015

Label: earMUSIC

‘Torture Tactics’ CD//DD track listing:

1). For War*

2). Dead *

3). Cowards*

4). Deception*

5). The Burning*

6). Dying Words*

7). Slugger

8). Expand To Expire

9). Face To Face

10) I Bend You Break

*New songs

The Resistance is:

Marco Aro | Vocals

Jesper Strömblad | Guitars

Glenn Ljungström | Guitars

Chris Barkensjö | Drums

Rob Hakemo | Bass (1-6)

Claudio Oyarzo | Bass (7-10)

Review:

The Resistance play muscular crusty-death/thrash. Straight out of Scandinavia and featuring current The Haunted vocalist Marco Aro, as well as a former member of In Flames, so  you should have a fair idea of how this is going to sound. Aro was always the best front man for The Haunted, in my view, and his work with Face Down was excellent, if often overlooked. If you are expecting a record akin to ‘One Kill Wonder’ (a classic in my view) or ‘...Made Me Do it’, then you will be disappointed. This is a much more hardcore/punk/crust infused affair with the requisite snot and bile.

It certainly gets straight to the point with “For War” “Dead” and “Cowards” sprinting past. “Deception” has some fine rhythm section work that breaks pace, but not energy to keep things interesting while “The Burning” is ferocious. The tracks are not lengthy; the longest of them goes just over four minutes and mostly the tracks are somewhere between one and a half and three and a half minutes.

The latter half of the album has touches of melancholy (instrumental “Dying Words” is a great track) but retains the punk sensibility and the aggression over most of the remaining playing time. It is heavy and aggressive stuff for sure, but does it stand out above other bands who are doing this type of stuff? That is a question I will leave you to answer, as I am not particularly au fait with this sub genre (I guess Black Breath might be a comparative act?). I can say that I enjoyed the record and liked hearing Aro spewing hatred into the mic again. If you want a short, sharp shock, try this one out.

Words by: Richard Maw

‘Torture Tactic’s is available now

For more information:

Like: https://www.facebook.com/theresistanceswe

Official: http://www.theresistance-swe.com/

The Haunted - Exit Wounds (Album Review)

Album Type: Full length

Date Released: 25/8/2014

Label: Century Media Records

‘Exit Wounds’ CD/DD/LP track listing:

01. 317 (1:31)

02. Cutting Teeth (3:24)

03. My Salvation (4:02)

04. Psychonaut (3:24)

05. Eye Of The Storm (3:49)

06. Trend Killer (3:12)

07. Time (Will Not Heal) (3:41)

08. All I Have (3:04)

09. Temptation (3:17)

10. My Enemy (1:00)

11. Kill The Light (4:08)

12. This War (2:28)

13. Infiltrator (3:32)

14. Ghost In The Machine (3:36)

The Band:

Marco Aro | vocals

Jensen | guitars

Ola Englund | guitars & solo guitars

Jonas Björler | bass guitar

Adrian Erlandsson | drums

Review:

To this particular metal head writing this article, there are different bands I will listen to in order accentuate my mood.  If I’m feeling down, I’ll play Down; if I’m feeling happy, I’ll play Motorhead; if I’m feeling like I need to don robes and shake a church to its foundations, then Sunn O))) is probably the band that will be fuelling my mind.  Today, however, is all about thrills.  And the most thrill seeking, riff-reeking rock-a-coaster album slammed right into my ears when I needed it the most.  I’m talking about ‘Exit Wounds’, the new album from Gothenburg rampagers The Haunted. 

Hyperbole aside, this riotous new album is a frenzy-fest of sick riffs and sicker lyrics, spat out at you through your speakers with a cobra’s venomous intent.  Following on from their EP release earlier in the year and also 2011’s ‘Unseen’, ‘Exit Wounds’ makes a crashing impact into your listening world; and, at 14 tracks long, it’s a mighty blast of metal bang for your buck. 

This new album is laced with Lamb of God rage, Slayer thrash, and a tincture of Pantera groove.  If it’s full-on aural carnage you’re after, then look no further.  Tracks like ‘Psychonaut’ and ‘Kill the Light’ pound like a battering ram against your eardrums and resonate inside your head long after the songs have finished; and ‘Time (Will Not Heal)’ had me banging my head in joyous abandon with its rolling, buoyant waves of riffs. 

However, ‘All I Have’ made me stand up and take notice.  It has this Black Label Society quality to it: brash, stomping riffs and Zakk Wylde pinch harmonics snapped off like rounds from a Magnum.  However, it also has this real gravitas, a sense of bitterness which vocalist Marco Aro brings to raw life with his lyrics and seething vocals.  The music is bold, the lyrics are bleak, and it’s this subtle contrast that made me come back to this song again and again. 

The Haunted have been through a baptism of fire: having changed their lineup after having three members leave, things can sometimes be a bit sketchy for a band that has suffered such a major change to their formation.  However, this Swedish quintet have returned, galvanized and focused on their primary goal, and that is to make your speakers and your ears their bitch.  And, trust me, with ‘Exit Wounds’, they have done just that.  Get ready to sit up and beg for The Haunted. 

Words by: Chris Markwell

You can pick up a copy here

For more information:

www.the-haunted.com

www.facebook.com/hauntedofficial