- Country: Sweden
- Style: Melodic death metal
- Label: Century Media
- Release date: 2 July 2021
At The Gates’ seventh album is their strangest, and probably their best since the reunion. Tomas Lindberg built The Nightmare of Being around philosophical pessimism, and the music follows the lyrics into darker, slower and more unusual places than the Gothenburg template usually allows.
The core is still there. “Spectre Of Extinction”, with King Diamond’s Andy La Rocque adding guitar, and “The Paradox” are classic At The Gates, all sharp melodic riffing and Lindberg’s hoarse bark. But “The Fall Into Time” moves like a prog-rock suite, “Garden Of Cyrus” brings in sounds you’d never expect on a melodeath record, and “Cosmic Pessimism” sounds genuinely unsettling.
Jens Bogren mixed and mastered it, and the production gives the band’s rhythm section room to breathe. It is a dense, demanding album, and it rewards patience. If you only want Slaughter of the Soul again, this isn’t it. If you want a veteran band still taking risks, it’s essential.
“Eternal Winter Of Reason” closes the record on a cold, crushing note, which feels right.
Best tracks:
Spectre Of Extinction
The Paradox
The Fall Into Time
Cosmic Pessimism
Author’s rating: 8.6/10
Gave it 5 stars
No member has given this album 5 stars yet. Join WeMetalheads and rate it.
