The now-defunct At The Gates are probably most known for their 1995 "Slaughter Of The Soul" album, widely recognised as a milestone and masterpiece of the "Gothenburg melodic death metal" genre. However, At The Gates did release four recordings prior to SOTS, which are not quite as well-known. This review is of "With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness", their second full-length album, released in 1993.
When I first heard this, I had only heard SOTS, and I was quite surprised by how different this is. You see, shortly after this release, guitarist and songwriter Alf Svensson would leave the band, with the more straightforward last two releases as a consequence. WFIKTBD is not a straightforward album in any sense of the world. There are time signature changes ever so often, non-linear structures and quite a lot of technical guitar and drum playing. Catchy 'tis not.
After 10+ listens, though, I began really appreciating the album. It is quite similar to the predecessor The Red In The Sky Is Ours, but has a better production (although the guitars are panned hard left/right, which can be annoying with at least my particular speaker setup) and better songs. Tomas' vocals are better on this album than on TRITSIO, and are mostly emotional, desperate-sounding screams and shrieks. On the song "Ever-Opening Flower", Tomas "sings" a duet with Matti Kärki of Dismember (in)fame, one of the album's highlights. Other standout tracks include the brief opening blaster "Beyond Good And Evil", the atmospheric "Raped By The Light Of Christ" with its multiple layers of guitar harmonies, "The Burning Darkness", "The Architects" and "Stardrowned", the two latter being older tracks originally written in the TRITSO period.
Overall, a quite recommended album for those who can be bothered to listen to it a lot. Don't expect to like it the first time if you love SOTS.
When I first heard this, I had only heard SOTS, and I was quite surprised by how different this is. You see, shortly after this release, guitarist and songwriter Alf Svensson would leave the band, with the more straightforward last two releases as a consequence. WFIKTBD is not a straightforward album in any sense of the world. There are time signature changes ever so often, non-linear structures and quite a lot of technical guitar and drum playing. Catchy 'tis not.
After 10+ listens, though, I began really appreciating the album. It is quite similar to the predecessor The Red In The Sky Is Ours, but has a better production (although the guitars are panned hard left/right, which can be annoying with at least my particular speaker setup) and better songs. Tomas' vocals are better on this album than on TRITSIO, and are mostly emotional, desperate-sounding screams and shrieks. On the song "Ever-Opening Flower", Tomas "sings" a duet with Matti Kärki of Dismember (in)fame, one of the album's highlights. Other standout tracks include the brief opening blaster "Beyond Good And Evil", the atmospheric "Raped By The Light Of Christ" with its multiple layers of guitar harmonies, "The Burning Darkness", "The Architects" and "Stardrowned", the two latter being older tracks originally written in the TRITSO period.
Overall, a quite recommended album for those who can be bothered to listen to it a lot. Don't expect to like it the first time if you love SOTS.
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