Artist: At the Gates
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The one thing that got me interested in Swedish music in the first place was the mid-90s Gothenburg metal scene. I don't remember exactly what year it was, but I picked up a copy of "Terminal spirit disease" by At the Gates on a whim and my life was forever changed. I brought the disc home and must've listened to it at least 3x in a row. It wasn't long before I was fervently reading liner notes, seeking out as many other new bands as I could. Of course, one of the first I discovered was In Flames. I haven't followed them so much in recent years, especially as the lines blur between them and what they do and the legions of shitty metalcore bands out there in the world, but I must say that "The jester race" is an unfuckwithable classic. This is what got me into the scene - the melodies of Iron Maiden, but played with the intensity and heaviness of death metal. The sound is totally played out nowadays, but you have to remember how fresh and inspiring it was when it was new. I certainly do.
In Flames - The jester race
Norwegian/UK metal act [code] has enlisted Adrian Erlandsson (ex-At the Gates/Cradle of Filth) as their new drummer.
The playlist for my radio show this week:
01. At the Gates - Suicide nation
02. TALK 1
03. Moving Oos - Stronger
04. Eskju Divine - Hold on
05. Mechanical Bird - Sunday
06. TALK 2
07. Mixtapes & Cellmates - Quiet
08. DS13 - Thrash lifestyle
09. Montt Mardié - Metropolis
10. Junior Senior - Can I get get get
11. TALK 3
12. Niccokick - Love & neon lights
13. Kristofer Åström - I collect knives
14. Death Breath - His protoplasmic worship
15. TALK 4
16. Mob - Ghost track
17. MZ412 - Unhealing wounds
18. Ugress - Manhattan sapphire
19. TALK 5
20. Shining - Låt oss ta allt från darandra
21. No Hope for the Kids - Rainy day
22. Moneybrother - Det blir ingen dans
23. Amandine - For all the marbles
24. TALK 6
25. Familjen - Det snurrar i min skalle
26. Last Days of April - Aspirins and alcohol
27. M:40 - När bomberna faller
28. TALK 7
29. Espen Jørgensen - The immaculate conception
30. Motorpsycho - For free
31. The Carny - Man under the sun
32. TALK 8
33. Karin Ström - Klaustrofobi
34. Badun - Pulsen
35. Meshuggah - Future breed machine
36. Värttinä - Mero
37. TALK 9
38. Randy - Better than art
39. Closer - Open casket
40. Alog - Buffalo demon
41. TALK 10
42. On Trial - Speaking of witch
This week's playlist for my show on Sirius:
01. Kristofer Åström - The dark
02. TALK 1
03. Amandine - Better soil
04. Christel Alsos - What you gotta do
05. Tarantula - Two arrows
06. TALK 2
07. Kristin Asbjørnsen - I'm on my way
08. Thomas Denver Jonsson - Dreams at the film club
09. Tenderloud - Texas down
10. TALK 3
11. Hyacinth House - Ghost town
12. Strayfolk - I'll be a-goin'
13. The First Miles - Bottle, don't let me down
14. TALK 4
15. Hello Saferide - I was definitely made for these times
16. Hederos & Hellberg - I can't hold myself in line
17. Two Times the Trauma - I fell in love with an ocean
18. David Sandström Overdrive - The Fatville Treaty
19. HGH - Stupid song
20. TALK 5
21. Gorgoroth - Procreating Satan
22. Enslaved - The voices
23. Invocator - Breed of sin
24. TALK 6
25. Seance - Post mortem
26. Watain - Underneath the cenotaph
27. Dark Tranquility - Icipher
28. TALK 7
29. Eucharist - The Eucharist
30. At the Gates - Slaughter of the soul
31. Wolfbrigade - EU (European Union)
32. TALK 8
33. Katatonia - Had to (leave)
34. Bloodbath - Soul evisceration
35. Cult of Luna - The revelation embodied
36. TALK 9
37. Finntroll - Slaget vid blodsälv
The Great Deciever, the band of ex-Grotesque bandmates Tomas Lindberg (At the Gates, Skitsystem, Disfear, etc.) and Kristian "Necrolord" Wahlin (Liers in Wait, Diabolique), has signed with US label Deathwish Inc. for the release of their new album "Life is wasted on the living" later this year. Previously, the band had worked with both Trustkill and Peaceville and it's been quite a few years since I've heard anything about 'em. Listen to an unmastered cut at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/deathwishinc
Dark Tranquility has a new album out, so I figured that it would be a great time to revisit one of their classic mid-90s records to see how well they hold up. As for the new record... it's okay, I guess. While I agree with Richard that it's somewhat of a return to form (the last few records have been pretty weak, to say the least), I have a hard time getting all that excited about it. I can handle the subtle keyboards and even the clean singing, but the modern metal recording style drives me crazy! It's so overcompressed and lacking dynamics. The guitars all have that horrible, overused Mesa dual-rectifier tone. No matter how the good the songs are, I still can't listen to it.
1997's "The mind's I" was my first exposure to Dark Tranquility. It came out at a time when I was purchasing anything and everything that came out the Gothenburg metal scene and for awhile, was one of my favorite new records. Of all the mid-90s melodic death metal from the era, it's certainly a top-10 contender. However, DT was always kind of an also-ran compared to the likes of At the Gates and In Flames. They were always a bit more pretentious and more likely to take risks, often alienating fans. I'm all for band evolution, but 1999's "Projector" was not good. What I like about "The mind's I" and this track in particular, is the clean, organic sound. Two guitars, drums, bass (which you can actually hear quite cleanly) and vocals - no useless overdubs, no excessive production tricks. The musicianship is impeccable, too. Put on headphones and check out the way the hard-panned guitars interact. The solo is killer as well - it leads perfectly into a powerful bridge in which singer Mikael Stanne sounds absolutely anguished, even if the lines he's singing are total gobbledygook. This is exactly what got me into Swedish/Scandinavian music in the first place. Every once in awhile, it's good to remind myself why.
Dark Tranquility - Tongues
8
Dark Tranquility can still deliver top notch melodic death metal after some 15 years in the business. Together with At the Gates and In Flames, they are the founders of the so called Gothenburg sound. Where most bands would long since peaked, Dark Tranqility at this point sound better than they've done in a long time. I dare say "Fiction" is their best album since the classic "The gallery" from 1995. They make smart use of keyboards and sometimes create a gothic mood, and the variation of really fast and aggressive songs alongside slower material makes this album a very versatile affair. And the fact that vocalist and growl-master Mikael Stanne once again uses his clean voice on two songs is a great move. Songs like "Blind at heart" and "Nothing to no one" is the ultimate proof that this band should achieve the same kind of breakthrough as other Swedish death metal bands like Arch Enemy or In Flames!
- Richard Wilson
Last night's playlist for my show on Sirius Blog Radio:
01. Isolation Years - Yellow cross on blue
02. TALK 1
03. Johndoe - Nattskift
04. Montys Loco - Wasteland
05. Once We Were - Cut corners
06. TALK 2
07. [ingenting] - Mycket vasen for ingenting
08. Margaret Berger - Robot song
09. Namur - Marching
10. Lampshade - New legs
11. TALK 3
12. Maia Hirasawa - Gothenburg
13. Mixtapes & Cellmates - Quiet
14. Fattaru - 100:-
15. Juvelen - Hanna
16. TALK 4
17. Säkert! - Allt som är ditt
18. Sonores - 16th of June
19. Detektivbyrån - E18
20. TALK 5
21. At the Gates - The swarm
22. Barra Head - Kill the lights
23. TALK 6
24. The Tough Alliance - Leg 7
25. Torpedo - My evil twin
26. Alog - Catch that totem!
27. TALK 7
28. Valley Days - 10k angels
29. A-ha - Celice
30. Victims - Who the fuck are we?
31. TALK 8
32. The Vicious - Alienated
33. Viola - Unreal life
34. Zweizz - Nowadays the only boring everything is so frustrating
35. Viktor Sjöberg - Winter guitars
36. TALK 9
37. Closer - The talker
38. Aerial - My god, it's full of stars!
39. The Kissaway Trail - La la song
40. Laakso - Italy vs Helsinki
41. The Psyke Project - Panic
42. TALK 10
43. C.Aarmé - We are the world
Next week: expect lots more killer jams including totally a brand new track from Closer and maybe even a spotlight set on post-rock/ambient music. Good times!
Daniel Dellamorte from Insision has published book chronicling the early history of Swedish death-metal entitled, plainly enough "Swedish Death Metal". The book is 500 pages long and features extensive interviews, photos, a complete A-Z list of over 900 (!!!) bands and zines and, best of all, is published in English so anyone can read it. There will also be an extra special releasefest on January 26 at Kafé 44 in Stockholm featuring pre-At the Gates act Grotesque (their first show in 16 years!) plus Nirvana 2002 and Internment. More info: http://www.myspace.com/tamarapress
Ex-At the Gates drummer Adrian Erlandsson has parted ways with UK black-metal wimps Cradle of Filth to concentrate on two new projects, Nemhain plus one as-yet-unnamed. Read more: http://blog.myspace.com/adrianerlandsson
Sad to say it, but Nemhain sounds pretty damn weak. I haven't enjoyed CoF in years, but even I say this is a big step down.
Before The Haunted, before there was Witchery, Patrik Jensen was in a band called Seance. Unlike a lot of the other Swedish death-metal acts around in the early 90s that are still remembered today, Seance performed in a much more brutal, syncopated style as opposed to the "traditional" melodic stuff people usually are talking about when discussing Swedish metal. If you're at all familiar with Jensen's work that shouldn't be too surprising as he's been cranking out album after album of Slayer-esque riffage like a machine for many years now. I imagine most folks will have a hard time getting past the monotone burp-metal vocals so my advice is to just do what I do: concentrate on the drums. Jensen does fine emulating the guitar attack of King/Hanneman, but it's drummer Micke's Lombardo-style pummel that makes Seance so awesome. Well, that and the loud steamroller bass tone. Much more Jesus Lizard in timbre than typical death-metal. This particular track I've posted today comes from the band's second and final album, 1993's "Saltrubbed eyes". If you can get past the vocals, it's well worth seeking out. I think The Haunted are okay, but I like this stuff a lot more (and similarly would recommend the Björler twins' earlier band At the Gates as well, but that's a no-brainer). As for the band's first album "Forever laid to rest" (1992), I am horribly remiss and have never heard it. Anyone know if it's worthwhile?
Seance - Skinless
Legendary defunct Swedish death-metal act At the Gates is now on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/atthegatesband
Ex-guitarist and site caretaker Anders Bjorler promises to upload some live videos and new (old) photos in the near future. I listened to their album "Slaughter of the soul" at least three times a day for over six months when it came out in 1995. 100% certified classic.