ALBUM REVIEW: To Drink From The Night Itself – At The Gates

Gothenburg’s AT THE GATES are one of metal’s legendary bands. Helping to define the classic melodic death metal sound, the band released three albums – The Red In The Sky Is Ours, With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness and Terminal Spirit Disease – in the early ‘90s which have become cult classics, before releasing their seminal fourth album, Slaughter of the Soul in 1995. You’d be hard pressed to find a metalhead who hasn’t at least heard Slaughter of the Soul, and even harder pressed to find a metal band formed post 1995 who doesn’t carry at least a small influence of the record. The band split in 1996, taking over a decade away from AT THE GATES before reforming for a series of reunion shows in 2007 and 2008, and reforming as a full band in 2010. At War With Reality was the band’s first album in 19 years, and saw a majestic return to the scene with a hugely positive reception. Four years later, AT THE GATES are back, set to prove At War With Reality wasn’t a fluke what might be their best album yet – To Drink From The Night Itself.

It was nearly two full decades before AT THE GATES released a follow-up to Slaughter of the Soul. 19 years is a long time; the musicians grew as artists, their influences changed, and their creative vision for AT THE GATES evolved. At War With Reality was a world away from Slaughter of the Soul. With the gift of hindsight, it’s clear that while their fifth full length lacked the immediate replay-ability and impact of its predecessor, At War With Reality was an incredibly ambitious record, seeing a myriad of influences take hold and showcasing a version of the band that, while still true to its roots, had mutated into a new beast. To Drink From The Night Itself continues this.

Perhaps the biggest achievement of To Drink From The Night Itself, aside from the absurdly high quality of the album as a whole, is its ability to channel so many influences and styles into one cohesive record, that, in spite of the huge variety of music on offer, still sounds classically AT THE GATES-ish. The acoustic, atmospheric intro track leads excellently into To Drink From The Night Itself’s punishing title track. The track is an instant hit, supremely catchy while still maintaining the blackened edge and raw brutality AT THE GATES have cemented into their signature melodic death metal style.

The similarly signature sounding A Stare Bound In Stone and the blackened ferocity of Daggers of Black Haze keep the momentum of To Drink From The Night Itself rising, while, sandwiched between the two, Palace of Lepers offers up some stomping groove. In Nameless Sleep is an absolute thrasher, delivering a blistering, high-energy series of riff-work, while the following The Colours of the Beast takes a more death-doom inspired, hulking approach. To Drink From The Night Itself comes to a truly majestic close with The Mirror Black – a deeply melancholic track that expertly harnesses the melody in the band’s sound to deliver a gloom-ridden, gut-wrenching finale to one of 2018’s greatest releases.

In terms of cultural impact, it would be impossible for AT THE GATES to release an album that hits harder than Slaughter of the Soul. It was a once-in-a-career occurrence, in the same league as Raining Blood or VENOM‘s Black Metal. However, that isn’t to say that AT THE GATES will never release an album that is, in terms of song-writing and musicianship, confidently in the same league as Slaughter of the Soul; in fact, they might just have pulled that off with To Drink From The Night Itself. Blending traditional Swedish death metal with masterful melodies, a black metal rawness, thrashy aggression, a few progressive flairs and some stomping groove, To Drink From The Night Itself is a genre-bending opus. Though it lacks the cultural significance of Slaughter of the Soul, make no mistake – To Drink From The Night Itself is a simply incredible record, a worthy addition to AT THE GATES‘ discography, and a necessary purchase for any metal fan.

Rating: 9/10

To Drink From The Night Itself is out now via Century Media Records.

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