Live Review: At The Gates, Katabasis, As Silence Breaks

There was nothing actually wrong with As Silence Breaks' brand of chugga-chugga metalcore meets modern melodeath, but nor was there anything to sustain real interest after a few songs. Still, the boys managed to pull a decent response from a crowd literally waiting for their long-lost metal heroes.

Katabasis were a very odd proposition. One of the guitarists looked like he'd just stepped out of a Witchcraft rehearsal and their sound lurched from keyboard-laden atmospheric black metal right through to a more straightforward thrashing approach. Not sure what they were trying to achieve but this reviewer was left scratching his head more than anything else.

At The Gates did give us the masterful Slaughter Of The Soul but they also (unintentionally) inspired pretty much every crappy metalcore band on the face of the planet. This gig wiped the slate clean – the boys are now formally forgiven. From the opening strains of Slaughter Of The Soul, At The Gates proved themselves worthy of the decades they made us all wait to see them. Guitarists Anders Björler and Martin Larsson delivered waves of razor sharp, note perfect swedeath riffage while frontman Tomas Lindberg barked out lyrics with a patented mad gleam in his eye.

While the crowd appreciated some well-timed excursions into the band's earlier and more experimental material (Terminal Spirit Disease, The Burning Darkness, All Life Ends and the always charming Raped By The Light Of Christ) it was the Slaughter-era material that really set proceedings off. There's not a dud track on that record and At the Gates embraced its impact by offering up a huge chunk of it including the frantic Cold, a tightly wound Under A Serpent Sun and the headbangers favourite, Suicide Nation. Finishing their set proper with Need, the boys returned for 'that' song (Blinded By Fear) quickly followed by the melodic majesty of Kingdom Gone. It's hard to live up to expectations when you've allowed a mythology to grow up around your band over decades. But somehow At The Gates proved that their reformation was no mere vanity exercise or long-awaited quick payday. These guys are the real deal, and are still as vital as ever.