AT THE GATES INTERVIEW
At The Gates are innovators. From debut album, The Red In The Sky Is Ours, through comeback stunner, At War With Reality, the Gothenburg-based death metal act have always traversed the left-hand path on their own terms. The Swedes are keenly aware of who they are, where they come from, and how they got to where they are today. In the ‘90s, At The Gates spearheaded The New Wave of Swedish Death Metal. In the aughts, then-swansong album, Slaughter Of The Soul, served as a feature-rich treasure chest for a host of upstarts to plunder. When At The Gates returned in 2008 — a full 12 years after they disbanded —their return was celebrated and the follow-up to Slaughter Of The Soul — now placing handsomely on Top Metal Album Lists — hotly anticipated. Now, four years after At War with Reality, the Swedes recently unleashed their indomitable spirit, ceaseless ingenuity, and raw power on new album, To Drink From The Night Itself.
Twinmusix got to speak to Martin Larsson from At The Gates about their upcoming tour and more.
TM - What can fans expect from your Australian tour?
ML - Fans can expect some good quality Swedish metal, that is what we are bringing.
TM - How did you come up with your set list for this tour?
ML - It will mostly be music from "Slaughter of the Soul" and maybe some songs from before the album.
TM - What's your favorite song to play live?
ML - It different all the time but right now my favourite song to play is "The Colours of the Beast".
TM - What are you looking forward to doing in Australia?
ML - I am always excited to do new things. It is always the things I do not know about that I appreciate the most.
TM - How have fans responded to your new album To "Drink from the Night Itself?
ML - Really well it is really good to have fans that get us. It has been getting really good reception.
TM - What was your writing and recording process for "To Drink from the Night Itself"?
ML - It is very different now from when we first started playing. It is not by choice, it is because we are so spread out now, We are hardly in the same country. We use to write songs in the rehearsal space, now we sit at home and write demos on the computer and send them to each other. We collaborate on the internet. In some ways, I miss getting together and rehearsing.
TM - Who Designed your Album cover for "To Drink from the Night Itself"?
ML - A Romanian guy designed our album cover. He does most of our videos and he has done our last three album covers. The Album Cover is inspired by the book The Aesthetics Of Resistance, at the beginning of the book they are at a museum in Berlin and there is a statue from somewhere in the Mediterranean, that is on the cover. The stone carving interpreted in a painting.
TM - What's your favorite band you have seen perform live?
ML - Uran, last time I saw them they had 5 symphosize players, three bass players and 2 drummers. They just go on and on its really good.
TM - If you could have any bands play one of your songs which band would it be, which song would it be and would it be in your style or their Style?
ML - Holy Terror who have not done a record science 1988, that would be interesting. I would have them cover an At The Gates song but the singer is dead and he was a big part of the sound.
TM - If you could collaborate with any artist who would it be and why?
ML - It would be interesting to do a song with Divo, but it would be too far fetched and would not be in a good way.
TM - Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?
ML - We are excited to come to Sydney and play for everyone, we are still excited to do this in our old ripe age.
TM - Thank you for this interview today, we really appreciate it.
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