Slightly OT, but probably of interest to many: check out Converge covering Entombed's classic "Wolverine blues" with guest vocals from Tomas Lindberg of At the Gates, Aaron Turner of Isis and more. It's not exactly what I'd call "good", but I'm sure a good time was had by all.
Swedish metal legends At the Gates report that they'll be doing a few more live gigs in 2011 after having so much fun on their first successful reunion tour run in 2008. First confirmed: Metal Town in Göteborg on June 17. Thankfully, the band also says they are still committed to not making any more new music.
ANecronaut, the solo project of ex-Dismember drummer Fred Estby, has posted the complete guest lineup for his upcoming album: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=414772938&blogId=538096458
For those that aren't so good with names, the list includes members from Entombed, Death Breath, Autopsy, At the Gates, Watain, Graveyard and more.
Necronaut, the solo project of ex-Dismember/Carnage drummer/Sunlight Studios engineer Fred Estby, has signed with and will be releasing their self-titled album later this year. The band features music written by Estby with a huge cast of metal all-stars contributing guest vocals and guitar tracks including luminaries such as Tomas Lindberg (Disfear, At the Gates), Nicke Andersson (Death Breath, ex-Entombed, The Hellacopters), Robert Pehrsson (Death Breath, Dundertåget), Robert "Strings" Dahlqvist (Dundertåget) and many more. Hear a sample tune at myspace featuring vocals from Chris Reifert (Abcess, Autopsy) and lead guitar from Uffe Cederlund (Disfear, ex-Entombed): http://www.myspace.com/necronaut666
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:
01. TALK 1
02. Monument - Feel failure
03. Regulations - To be me
04. Du - Bring down a house
05. Tyrant - Go ahead raise the dead
06. TALK 2
07. Tobias Fröberg - When we go to war
08. Next Life - Anti matter
09. Lo-Fi-Fnk - Marchin' in
10. Boy Omega - Just a boy
11. TALK 3
12. The Bear Quartet - I was a weapon
13. I'm from Barcelona/David Ljung - Silence
14. Thee Gutted String - I've been to town
15. TALK 4
16. Paper - Before that day
17. The Goner - Bright and colossal (risen mind)
18. At the Gates - Suicide nation
19. TALK 5
20. Madrugada - Look away Lucifer
Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.
At the Gates' sorely neglected sophomore album "With fear I kiss the burning darkness" will be reissued on February 15 with new liner notes from frontman Tomas Lindberg, 3 bonus tracks and a bonus DVD with a 1992 live show filmed in Groningen, Holland.
At the Gates have announced that they will be releasing a posthumous 3xDVD collection entitled "The flames of the end" on February 22, 2010. Disc 1 will feature a brand new 2+ hour documentary on the band called "Under A Serpent Sun - The Story of At The Gates" covering their entire career, filmed and directed by guitarist Anders Bjorler; Disc 2 is "Purgatory Unleashed - Live at Wacken", a 75-minute live set of the band's reunion performance at the legendary German metal fest; and Disc 3 is "Only the Dead Are Smiling", 26 live performances of the band from all over the world from throughout the entire band's history. For more details go here: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=113568664&blogId=519748420
Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fa6PeVuSmI
Transubstans Records has confirmed that they will be releasing a new self-titled album from Swedish occult hårdrock/doom act The Graviators this coming November. Renown sludgerock producer Billy Anderson is mixing and mastering the release and Thomas Tjäder (At the Gates, In Flames, The Haunted) will be handling the group's first video.
Various ArtistsAt first I bemoaned the fact that this collection was only coming out as a 3-CD set and not on vinyl, but the truth of the matter is that three 60+ minute CDs would necessitate a massive LP boxset. As if the mountain of licensing paperwork I'm sure this collection entailed wasn't enough, I can only imagine the intimidating pricetag that would add to it. No, the format this collection really should have been released as is cassette tape -- that's how this music was first distributed, that's how it was listened to. Bands aspired to vinyl, but the era of the demo tape defined the early Swedish death metal scene and that's where a lot of this source material originated. The heavyweights are all here: Nihilist, Entombed, At the Gates, Unleashed, Dismember, Grave, etc.; even if Earache and Black Mark would not relinquish rights for landmarks such as Entombed's "Left hand path" or Bathory's "Under the sign of the black mark" without a hefty fee, at least we can still hear many of the demos. Many other less prominent, but by no means less worthy acts are represented as well: Merciless, Liers in Wait, Evocation, Nirvana 2002... all painstakingly collected by the corresponding book's author Daniel Ekeroth, who also provides liner notes for each track. As a single-session listening experience, it's near-overkill, but as a historical document and learning aid it is invaluable. Of course, the tracklist isn't perfect and Daniel's prejudice towards Gothenburg's melodic metal scene is evident, but I see no valid reason to complain. The entire project is a labor of love and we are lucky it exists at all. Daniel's respect and dedication for the genre trumps any benefit deeper pockets (or broader minds) could afford and for that he has my deepest admiration.
- Avi Roig
At the Gates are working on compiling old footage from the 90s for an upcoming DVD release. Go here for details on how to contribute: http://atthegates.se/site/
All-star black-metal act Code (featuring members from DHG and At the Gates) will be releasing a new album entitled "Resplendent grotesque" this coming spring.
At the Gates have finished their reunion tour and posted a final statement on their website which includes the news that a band documentary is on the way: http://atthegates.se/
I've got a guest post today over at Dagensskiva as part of their At the Gates "Suicidal Final Tour" coverage: [click here]
It's funny, I consider "Slaughter of the soul" to be near-perfect, but it's actually not my favorite AtG record. That honor goes to "Terminal spirit disease". I'm not sure if it's because I've burned myself out on "Slaughter..." or because I heard "Terminal..." first, but that's the way it is. I suppose it could also be because the riffs are way more intricate, striking a balance between the weird, overtly-technical songwriting of departed guitarist Alf Svensson and the straightforward, raw power of the tracks on "Slaughter". It's the sound of a band in transition, a trait made even more apparent by the addition of three live versions of old tracks, including one of their very first songs ("All life ends"). It also helps that the acoustic instrumental (a thrash album prerequisite) "And the world returned" is infinitely better than its counterpart on "Slaughter" ("Into the dead sky").
Regardless of which album you prefer, even if you're a die-hard "The red in the sky is ours" fan, At the Gates is a band that has been and will be sorely missed. If you were/are lucky enough to see them this week, I envy you.
At the Gates - Terminal spirit disease
The Göteborg spotlight series continues! This week's guest: Mattias Carlsson, ex-drummer for The Smackdown and current member of Dead Vows, The VIII Arms Around You and Anchor.
How long have you lived in Gbg? What brought you there and what keeps you around?
I've been living in or close to Gothenburg all my life. It's a beautiful city. Small enough to make me feel like a human and big enough to not bore me out.
What's the current punk/hardcore scene like in Gbg? Is there much interaction with other indie music scenes or is it more insular? Is DIY culture alive and well? What about sXe, veg*nism and other related issues?
Yes, I definitely think Gbg is a city where people live their projects and make things happen. It's very inspiring. Unfortunately there's a lot of division though. The edge-kids support their thing, the indie-kids know where to go and the crusties go to their shows. It's a bit depressing when all of these kids are doing cool stuff, but don't get the attention or credit they deserve for their efforts. But that's what it's like everywhere, more or less.
There's there's a good amount of vegan and straight edge-kids around at the moment which makes me very happy and generally a lot people engaging in important stuff. Gbg is traditionally a working class city and politics have always had an important role in alternative music.
How does the legacy of Gbg's musical history affect you, if at all? Do you ever stop to consider the kids coming up in the scene now who may take your place in the future?
I don't really know. Even though Gothenburg has got a massive history of alternative music the only band I feel like I have some sort of relation to at the moment is At the Gates or Skitsystem. My sister and brother played a lot of Gbg punk-bands to me when I was a kid and all of them have meant very much to me, but I could probably not name many of them at the moment.
Since I hear you do a lot of booking, who are the bands to watch these days?
In my eyes there's quite a few new bands around that are awesome. Maybe not specifically from Gbg but in Sweden in general.The Cutting Edge are incredible, Scraps of Tape have always been unique and amazing. Repoman are awesome and Another Year too. Loads of things to be discovered!
Got a track you'd like to share? Either from one of your own bands or one you admire?
My projects can be found at myspace.com/deadvows, myspace.com/theviiiarmsaroundyou and myspace.com/xanchorx. Dead Vows are recording a full-length at this very moment. Should be out around August in time for our European tour! A band I admire, that'd have to be Scraps of Tape. Check myspace.com/scrapsoftape out. Amazing band!
However, seeing as how Mattias didn't bother actually sending a track, I'm forced to go with something from one of his bands whether he likes it or not. Here's "Guilt ridden" from The VII Arms Around You.
The Eight Arms Around You - Guilt ridden
