Review Summary: Faster is better.
At The Gates have established a precedent for themselves of becoming progressively more stripped down throughout their career.
The Red in the Sky is Ours quickly laid the groundwork for their overall quicker and more menacing style of melodeath in comparison to their successors, but each successive release got progressively less busy. Whilst many people lament the overall simplification of their sound by the time of their 1994 classic
Terminal Spirit Disease, the thick, muscular production of it and its equally notable followup,
Slaughter of the Soul and the concise songwriting allowed them to still succeed even with their formula drifting from particularly expansive melodies and complex riffs. However, the essential factor in their continued success was the retention of the same speed and energy as their rawer earlier work. You could probably express this with some kind of formula, but for now I'll simply say that in most heavily riff based styles of extreme metal, a reduction in the complexity of the music needs to be offset by an increase in tempos. In essence, speed is everything to At The Gates' sound, especially on their latter classic albums.
At War with Reality sits in odd position in the At The Gates discography, overlooking their whole legacy in a time where the style of Slaughter of the Soul is so heavily aped by NWOAHM bands and revivalist groups. In light of this, the stripped down style of that album is combined with some more expansive and perhaps unusual melodies. Whilst not lacking in good structure, riffs and ideas, At War with Reality hits two major stumbling blocks.
Firstly, the production of the album is extremely clean and clear, favouring the melodic sections of their songs, but the majority of verses and riffs are still overall quite simple, and without the fat, dominating guitar tone of their heyday At The Gates struggle to make these sections nearly as exciting. Additionally, the drums lack the same presence in the high end of the mix, and rarely is there the prominent cymbal work that gave the drums a feeling of momentum on their earlier work. That said, the structure of the songs is thankfully often reoriented in a way which focuses on big melodic sections, such as the bridge and mid section of
The Circular Ruins and the chorus of
Conspiracy of the Blind. These points comfortably demonstrate the band's aptitude for catchy but fairly menacing hooks, and the more lightweight sound of the album doesn't inhibit this. However, there is a lot of space on the album where the girth of Slaughter of the Soul would have helped a lot.
Secondly, and most strikingly, At War with Reality feels like it is about 20 bpm too slow on nearly every song. Sluggish bridges and awkwardly tame drums plague basically the whole album, which is a problem amplified by the fact that the performance of the rhythm section is very plain, largely in service of the guitars. Ultimately the songwriting, whilst competent structurally and often very good in some sections, is not complex enough to justify the slow tempos employed. Some songs such as
The Book of Sand (The Abomination) and the title track feel natural at their given tempos, but tracks like
The Head of the Hydra, which have some excellent ideas would massively benefit from being executed at a faster speed.
It's funny how At War of Reality is a release that came 19 years since At The Gates' last full length, because the band feels tired throughout the album. Ironically, it is by no lack of ideas, as the riffs and melodies are strong throughout, but the declining tempo of the band is oddly fitting. Whilst overall still a good album with many enjoyable sections, At The Gates need to inject more energy in future if they opt for this same style.
