MetalSucks

Blabbermouth has posted the below footage of At the Gates playing one of their first reunion shows in Japan this past week as part of a tour with Dillinger Escape Plan, Pig Destroyer, Into Eterenity and Mayhem (Holy purple poop, that’s a sweet tour!). At the Gates don’t show up ’til the 6:43 mark, but it’s actually kinda worth it to just sit through the Pig Destroyer and DEP footage.

Obviously this isn’t the highest quality video, but the band sounds pretty killer to me. What do y’all think?

-AR

I was pretty excited that Exhorder’s albums are getting reissued, since I thought it meant a lot of kids who have never heard of Exhorder might now check ‘em out.

And yet, somehow, the news that Exhorder have reunited and are working on new material bums me out. I can’t even really figure out why; part of me thinks it’s that “new material” part. Almost every reunited band puts out a new album at some point, because, well, it’s a good way to make money; but these albums, even if they’re any good, can never, and do never, live up to band’s output from their heyday. At the Gates, at least, admitted as much in Decibel (though they didn’t rule out the possibility of recording under a different name, which, truth be told, is just as shitty an idea as recording under their original name, because anyone with an IQ bigger than his shoe size will still know that it’s At the Gates). So while I’m stoked to be able to catch Exhorder at a not particularly large concert venue in the NYC area sometime real soon, I really wish they would please just not make any new music.

Then again, a couple of new songs might provide the perfect bathroom break during the show.

Anyway, below enjoy a photo of Phil Anselmo in an Exhorder shirt. The photo of a member of Pantera in Exhorder merch should help convince 15 year olds that Exhorder really are important to the history of metal, in case actually listening to the band’s music and realizing that they pre-date Pantera somehow fails to convey this fact.

-AR

“Yes! Boris and Torche will tour together!” I remarked to myself as I read this bit of news on Lambgoat that Japanese sludge/doomsters Boris and doomy, majestic shoegazers Torche would tour together in the U.S. this summer. “July 10th in NYC at Webster Hall… wow, that’s a big venue for them!” I thought inwardly as I flipped through my planner. “Fuck! That’s the same day as the At the Gates reunion hits New York. Guess I’m not going to that one.”

Oh well.

-VN

People don’t talk about Exhorder enough – hell, we don’t don’t talk about Exhorder enough. But they’re hugely influential on the current metal scene – some people have even accused Pantera of ripping them off (which I think is pretty extreme – but Pantera definitely did owe Exhorder a huge debt).

So hopefully all the Hot Topic kids who don’t know this band will get to know them when their two albums, The Law and Slaughter in the Vatican, get re-issued on July 8 (May 19 in Europe… why do the Europeans get so much cool shit before the rest of us?). Seriously, folks: you really should own these albums, ’cause they kick some pretty major ass. If there was any justice in the world, everyone would be clamoring for some sort of Exhorder reunion the same way everyone gets all dizzy about At the Gates getting back together. Exhorder are that fucking good.

-AR

The Haunted are busy working on their new record at PUK studios in Denmark with producer Tue Madsen, and somewhere, in the woods outside of Gothenburg, frontman Peter Dolving is coming out of hibernation to resume his fantastic blog rants.

Just last night we were chatting with the dudes at Nonelouder about how The Haunted’s last album The Dead Eye (also produced by Madsen) was our favorite one yet — but we didn’t mention Dolving’s maniacal journal entries, which include nuggets such as this:

“How I’m feeling? Mutherfucker, I’m fucked. The shit I dream at night you wouldn’t believe. When I wake up I feel like I’m dead, I literally have minor hallucinations for the first halfhour until I’ve drugged myself with enough caffeine and sugar to murder an elephant.”

The Blabberbrat punters seem to ridicule Dolving into oblivion — but I, for one, think his writing is absolutely amazing. His rants on the world, politics, culture, life, psychology and um, oh yeah, music, are all right on the money.

Who thinks we take a stab at giving this guy a shot at a guest column on MetalSucks? If ever there was a match made in heaven. Plus, dude’s gonna have plenty of time on his hands this summer, whatwith the rest of the band members being busy with that At the Gates reunion and all…

-VN

From the always astute pop-culture critics at Idolator:

Weiland, the estranged singer of Velvet Revolver, has teamed up with members of Army Of Anyone and Bomb Shelter Studios owner Eric Kretz for a tour that will hit more than 50 amphitheaters this summer and fall.

Brilliant. In other news, members of The Haunted, Disfear and Cradle of Filth will be teaming up for a massive world tour this summer. Let’s just pray and hope that film director Fred Durst doesn’t decide to collaborate with Fear and the Nervous System’s Wes Borland for anything… ever.

-VN

The influence and importance of Gothenburg, Swedish’s In Flames is familiar to devoted metalheads but bears repeating to the rest: along with At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity, In Flames pioneered and refined the sound that would later become known as melodic death metal (or “The Gothenburg Sound”), directly influencing hundreds of bands from their genesis in the early ’90s to the myriad metalcore bands that walk the planet today. By combining death metal with Maiden and Judas Priest-influenced guitars and their own astute songwriting sensibility, Stromblad and co. hit a chord that still rings loud today. The band is now nothing short of an international metal sensation and they continue to take their blistering live show on the road year after year. I’d venture to say to that In Flames, through their unique sense of melody, aggression and songcraft, are more directly influential on today’s metal scene than any other band, even the much-celebrated At the Gates.

Click to read more…

As we first reported last month, At the Gates will tour the U.S. starting in July. Here’s the tour itinerary thus far:

July 10 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza
July 11 – Worcester, MA – The Palladium
July 12 – Montreal, QC – Le Medley
July 13 – Toronto, ON – Opera House
July 14 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues
July 15 – Sauget, IL – Pop’s
July 17 – Houston, TX – Warehouse Live
July 18 – San Antonio, TX – White Rabbit
July 21 – Denver, CO – Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom
July 23 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
July 24 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theatre
July 25 – San Francisco, CA- The Fillmore
July 26 – Pomona, CA – Glasshouse
July 27 – Hollywood, CA – Henry Fonda Theatre

Support will come from Darkest Hour, who I’m sure are thrilled to be touring with one of their biggest influences, and Municipal Waste.

Tickets for the NYC show were supposed to go on sale this morning, but the page mysteriously disappeared from the Ticketbastard website last night.

More to follow…

-AR

American At the Gates fans who can’t afford a ticket across the pond for one of the summer festivals the reunited death legends will play this summer, you can breathe a sigh of relief: a trusted MetalSucks source tells us the band is going to announce a U.S. tour any second now. Alas, it won’t be the reunion mega-package tour with Carcass we’ve all been fantasizing about, but still…

We’re told the tour will last about two weeks. Stay tuned for more details.

-AR

Gotta please the metalheads too, right? Rock Band, the full-band cousin of Guitar Hero, will continue releasing downloadable weekly upgrade packs featuring new songs for the game. In addition to plenty of predictable releases, this one caught our eye: the week of March 4th will see the release of the “Thrash Three Pack,” featuring “Blinded by Fear” by At The Gates “Thrasher” by Evile “Shadow World” by The Haunted.

We’re shocked too. Sure, a few enterprising headbangers will be psyched to hear this news, and At the Gates are pretty legendary in a certain segment of the metal community, but I can’t see this being a big seller to a crowd that would rather sing “S.O.S.” by The Police for the 169th time. In any case it’s pretty damn cool, and I hope my richer friends who have Rock Band will spring for the Thrash Three Pack. After all, I’ve always wished I had long hair, lots of tattoos, was awesome at guitar, played in front of thousands of people… oh yeah, it’s just a video game.

-VN

Yeah yeah yeah, Evan Seinfeld has done lots of “legitimate” acting since Biohazard fell apart, like an appearance on Oz and voice work for the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV video game, but let’s be real: all his post-metal fame stems from the fact that he’s married to, and is the on-screen partner for, porn star Tera Patrick. That’s right: the man now blows his load all over his wife’s face for a living. Somebody had to say it.

I guess Evan must be running dry, though, because they’ve announced that Biohazard, the Noo Yawk band that may have inadvertently paved the way for Limp Bizkit, is jumping on the Summer 2008 reunion bandwagon, where they’ll be featured alongside the already-announced kiss n’ make-up concerts by Carcass and At the Gates. Who will care about Biohazard more than Carcass or At the Gates is beyond me, but I imagine they’ll all end up on the same European summer festival circuit soon.

-AR

You can’t blame At the Gates for wanting to get paid by doing some reunion shows; every metal band from Killswitch Engage to The Black Dahlia Murder is finding success ripping off ATG, so why shouldn’t they make a quick buck?

So in what seems like an obvious effort to build even more reunion hype and get more Hot Topic kids to purchase copes of Slaughter of the Soul, Earache has now announced the forthcoming release of a special edition of that seminal album:

“A recently unearthed live show from seminal Swedish Death Metallers At the Gates will form part of a limited edition version of their classic 1995
album Slaughter of the Soul, to be released on March 10 in Europe and
March 25 in North America.

“Issued as a 2 disc set containing the original album, 6 bonus songs and the
35 minute The Making of Slaughter of the Soul documentary, the release
now boasts a full live set filmed live in Krakow, Poland 30th December 1995, when the band toured with Unleashed.”

Uh,  I guess this could be cool. But to be honest, I’m not too psyched by this clip of the band performing “Cold” from the live DVD:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/knL6C-BVVFA" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

What do you kids think?

-AR

Blabbermouth has an excellent interview posted with guitarist Anders Bjorler of legendary Swedish metallers At The Gates, who yesterday announced they would be reuniting for a few one-off European festival performances in the Summer of 2008. In the interview, Bjorler sheds light on what got the band back together, why the timing was right, and shares his opinions on the legacy and influence of At the Gates. On the now famous Slaughter of the Soul:

Our goal was to write the Reign in Blood for the 90’s. At least try to do so, hehe… What we achieved was an album that was powerful, aggressive, melodic and to the point. The funny thing about “Gothenburg sound” is that I never heard the expression until At the Gates split up. I think I heard it around 1997/1998 when a couple of Swedish bands stated that they were influenced by what was happening in Gothenburg.

I think it’s a fair conclusion that Slaughter of the Soul is definitely in the running for the Reign in Blood of the ’90s. The only competition really could come from Pantera. We’re growing more excited by the hour about this reunion — should Axl and I just take a gamble and buy our airline tickets to Download 2008 now?

-VN

It wouldn’t be considered a stretch to call At the Gates one of the most influential bands on metal today. Without At the Gates (and Dark Tranquillity), there would be no In Flames, The Haunted or Soilwork. And without any of those bands, there would be no Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall, and without those bands there wouldn’t be any of the hundreds of mis-labeled metalcore bands that dominate today’s metal charts. Well, maybe the latter part is a good thing. In any case, they were pretty fuckin’ influential and they’ve just announced that they will be reuniting to tour the 2008 European Summer festival circuit.

Dates at Ruis Rock in Finland, the legendary Wacken Open Air in Germany, and Bloodstock in the UK have been confirmed so far, which leads us to speculate that Axl and I may be blessed with a Download 2008 appearance when we make the trip next summer. A Carcass reunion and At the Gates reunion at the same show? Ya don’t say.

At the Gates consists of Tomas Lindberg (Disfear, The Crown, Lockup) on vocals, Anders Björler (The Haunted) and Martin Larsson on guitar, Jonas Björler (The Haunted) on bass, and Adrian Erlandsson (Brujeria, Cradle of Filth) on drums. I was just listening to Slaughter of the Soul on my iPod on my way to work today; swear to God.

-VN