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.
For To Drink From The Night Itself, the Swedes are finally free of creative limitations, follow-up expectations, and invisible but all-too-real self-imposed restrictions. The Rubicon, as it were, was ready to be crossed and nothing—not even long-standing guitarist Anders Björler, who departed in March 2017—was going to hold AT THE GATES back.
Written by Jonas [Björler] and Lindberg together, To Drink From The Night Itself emerged out of very productive and energized song and lyric-writing sessions. Jonas would influence Lindberg and Lindberg would inform Jonas. The dynamic duo was on fire. Tracks like ‘A Stare Bound In Stone,’ ‘Daggers Of Black Haze,’ ‘In Nameless Sleep,’ featuring King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRocque, and the title track are definitively AT THE GATES yet they convey so much more.
As for what’s next, Lindberg is hopeful that a freer, more enterprising, and more savage AT THE GATES will resonate. The frontman and the rest of AT THE GATES are preparing for the shock and awe of tracks like ‘Palace Of Lepers,’ ‘The Chasm,’ ‘The Colours Of The Beast,’ and closing epic ‘The Mirror Black.’ But most of all, AT THE GATES are eager to get out on the road to play To Drink From The Night Itself for fans the world over. Resistance is, after all, not futile.