Metal Riot

Photo Credit: Anna Ledin Wirén

Swedish hardcore d-beat outfit DISFEAR see the digital release of their sophomore album, A Brutal Sight of War available digitally for the very first time! Originally released in 1993, A Brutal Sight of War is now available across all streaming services HERE.

DISFEAR begin their Spring tour dates next week in Belgium. All confirmed 2020 tour dates are available below. Stay tuned for more updates.

Swedish melodic death metal legends At The Gates have released a new music video for the song “Daggers Of Black Haze”. The video was created by Costin Chioreanu / Twilight 13 Media (who was also in charge of the album’s artwork concept).

Pre-order new album To Drink From The Night Itself in its various formats here:
https://AtTheGates.lnk.to/ToDrinkFromTheNightItself

Frontman Tomas Lindberg comments on the track as follows:
“Daggers of Black Haze” represents the more progressive side of the new record. It has a lot of reference-points to our early back catalogue, both style wise, and the emotional setting. It is desperate and urgent, but still melancholic and epic. It is conceptually one of the cornerstones of the album. Driving home the point of the need for a war on apathy and the populistic forces that takes advantage of it. This is a fight against the abyss. A beacon for the importance of real art, real forms of expression, and importance of our understanding of our mutual cultural history. The video was filmed by Costin Chioreanu once again, and it is full of symbolism and heavy on the conceptual side. Costin displays the war for art and the importance of standing up to the oppressive powers and paradigms with his film. It is beautiful, striking, melancholic and I am very happy to see his vision of my concept.”

Video director Costin Chioreanu added the following about his work:

“Being aware of the heavy topic in this song I realized that making a video for it represents a mandatory mission for the art, in general. Speaking today of the way how the ruling class guided the evolution in art and the perception upon it, the weight of the history, which is deeply buried in the artifacts’ structures and ideologies, I take this song and the means of illustrating it as a pure and genuine artistic attitude. In the course of time, an imposed perception projected through the manipulation of the art by those holding the power, took the shape of an idol in the viewers’ eyes, it became their main light, the source of the imaginary, artistic beliefs and patterns. The presence of the main character depicted on the newest AT THE GATES cover and artwork – Alcyoneus, the oldest hero among the giant warriors – is here as well. His bust was rebuilt for this video, but it got a new face. Now his mouth is closed and therefore, he is reduced to silence due to the new paradigms and the oppression’s influence in art. Yet, this character continues to defy the primitive human nature. The snake’s symbol and the eternal temptation offered by the bestial side of the self are also present here, and they work hand in hand with the new Alcyoneus’ image. The video goes fast through different moments in the history, including the perception of art and human nature, and it employs a heavy, almost funeral type of visual tone. This time I have also decided to base all my work on a pretty sharp type of image, as sharp as the blade of the daggers. Regarding imagery, there is darkness, heaviness, hate and anger, which accede to death, primordial co-habitation and they are all enshroud with an almost political type of solemnity. The revolutionary spirit emerges through the mere existence of this video per se. At some points, short scenes depicting nature come as an invitation to a philosophic reflection on the monumental character of the art required by politics. This is how I felt this song, its lyrics and all the explanations provided by Tomas for this particular tune.“

Undisputed melodic death metal kings At The Gates (basically the Metallica of their metallic sub-genre, only without ever pulling a Reload), have decided on a new guitarist. Instead of, say, jacking Ola Englund from The Haunted or Mike Schleibaum from Darkest Hour as some expected, the band have decided to give the coveted slot to an old friend. Jonas Stålhammar (pictured above) is currently a member of The Lurking Fear, Crippled Black Phoenix, Bombs Of Hades and God Macabre. He has previously played in Abhoth, Utumno and Macabre End.

At Metal Riot we are very excited to hear what fruit this union doth bear.

“We have finally decided on a new guitar player, and we are ready to rip again! Actually he was our first choice, and we are happy to have him on board. Jonas Stålhammar has been a friend since the late eighties (Tomas used to tape trade with him back then!), and our paths have crossed many times during our careers.

We were looking for someone who had the same reference points as we do, someone from the same path, so to say, who understand the greatness of both Autopsy and King Crimson. Of course it was essential that our new member could fill the shoes of Anders’ performance-wise as well, but that was never an issue with Jonas. We were looking for someone with a deep understanding of what AT THE GATES are about, someone who could contribute creatively to the band.

Jonas Stålhammar will be a full member from day one, and will play on the upcoming full length album, scheduled for recording in November 2017 – January 2018. 

We currently have 11 songs ready for said album, and are more inspired than perhaps ever before. You can expect a full-on AT THE GATES record with all the classic elements of the band. It is by far the most comprehensive album of the band to date, and will span all the way across the different elements of the band’s sound.

We are super-excited for 2018. It will be a good year for AT THE GATES, and our fans, for sure.”

Additionally, AT THE GATES have just announced their first live shows for 2018 to be as follows:

AT THE GATES – Live 2018
02.-04.03.2018 Tilburg (The Netherlands) – Netherlands Deathfest
13.-15.07.2018 Gävle (Sweden) – Gefle Metal Fest
Many more dates to be announced soon…

Here’re the first 5 minutes of Banger‘s documentary on ‘Slaughter of the Soul’.

Full episode out Dec. 25, pre-order now:
http://bit.ly/BuyMEA-SOTS

Thinking back on the whirlwind night of Decibel Magazine Tour‘s Webster Hall finale, the main thing that comes to mind is not the sweaty masses of hairy metal dudes, bad ass chics or even the amazing music from Vallenfyre, Pallbearer, Converge and At The Gates (playing their first set in NYC in many years).

No, what got me the most was thinking of the influence and deep involvement of all the members of these bands in the metal scene and how much passion can spread to coat the world in one person’s lifetime of work. From Converge’s Jacob Bannon’s Deathwish Inc. label/distro to his artistic influence on the visual side of the scene to Vallenfyre’s cast of characters deeply influential work in bands like Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride to Pallbearer playing big hip festivals only metal bands like Mastodon or Metallica usually get asked to play to At The Gates deep legacy on melodeath to the members involvement in other groups ranging from The Haunted to Disfear and Skitsystem, you’ve got a huge web of metal history, present and future emanating from the stage.

For the full review see BELOW.

At The Gates have released a video for their stomping and mental canyon carving new nail-embedded slugger “Death And The Labyrinth”. The song’s maze of dissonance and choking screams in a blood pact with existential dread and dismay is… really heavy. It is good that the handsome melodeath devils are progressing but still can outdo almost any band at the heavy game, and because of mood and impact. Think of more forward thinking acts like Nails and The Secret today and you have to give credit to At The Gates for being able to again reach the heights of peer standards they themselves originally set. It’s not always the size of the riff but how you use it.

Click HERE to get riff-faced

At The Gates have a teaser video for their first new music since Lou Pearlman was gettin’ fat off NSYNC Record Sales. Check out the teaser video from At War With Reality HERE. I hate teaser vids but this one I was eager to chew on.

High five to The Black Dahlia Murder for  their facebook message: “Our dads have a new album coming out”.