Along with Dark Tranquillity and In Flames, At The Gates is considered to be an originator of the Gothenburg Melodic Death Metal sound, or “melodeath” for short. The idea behind melodeath is to convey melody through guitar instead of vocals. So while the guitar parts are indeed hummable, the vocals are barked, shouted, screamed, growled or – in the case of At The Gates – shrieked. Meanwhile, the rhythm section is left to pummel and annihilate listeners. It’s an intense experience.

At The Gates dropped off the map in the mid-90’s. Their last release Slaughter of the Soul was labelled a classic and the band went out on a high note. Now, nearly twenty years later they have returned with At War With Reality and with high expectations on them, have delivered a great record.

For one thing, the new record has a much beefier sound. It’s also a lot clearer – a product of being recorded in 2014 and not 1995. Meanwhile, the tracks themselves pick up where Slaughter left off: lots ass-kicking riffs and sombre melodic leads that punch a hole throat your chest, grab onto your heart and squeeze. In particular on songs “The Circular Ruins” and “Order From Chaos”.

In Flames fans were disappointed as the band evolved over time and eventually abandoned melodeath in favour of metalcore and more mainstream sounds. Dark Tranquillity seems to have been treading water over the past couple albums. At The Gates, on the other hand, has delivered a monstrous melodeath record worth raising your fist for.