At the Gates
March 27, 2015
The Wiltern Theater- Los Angeles, CA
Swedish melodic death metal legends At the Gates released their first album in 19 years titled At War With Reality. Having initially broken up in 1996, they performed several reunion shows including the USA in 2008 which was the last time they toured here. After releasing their new album, At the Gates had finally returned to their die-hard fans that had eagerly waited to see them either again after so many years, or for the first time. What better way for At the Gates to announce their return to US soil than to headline the 2015 Decibel Magazine tour and make their first stop at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, California. Everyone’s bodies were ready for the triumphant return of one of the leaders of the Gothenburg death metal scene.
The intro track to At the Gates’ new album titled El Altar del Dios Desconocido (The Altar of the Unknown God) started playing right when the lights went off and the crowd went from being rather silent to absolutely loud as At the Gates made their way to the stage and opened their 19 song setlist with the second track of the new album, Death and the Labyrinth. Following the opening song, they played Slaughter of the Soul which is one of their most famous songs off their biggest album of the same name. After playing two more songs, frontman Tomas Lindberg made a quick speech to the audience saying “We are from Gothenburg, Sweden and we are back!”
Their setlist was well put together and they mixed it up with old tracks and as many as 9 tracks from the new album. Obviously the old tracks were the highlights, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind the new songs as they raised their horns and sang along. The crowd was very much into the band. Seeing groups of friends hugging each other and headbanging in unison was quite a sight. There were also multiple mosh pits going on in different areas of the venue even though they weren’t designated moshing areas.
The stage went dark and was illuminated by purple lights while the instrumental track City of Mirrors was playing before the band jumped into their hit Suicide Nation as the crowd once again got really loud and screamed. Lindberg took another quick speech break to tell the crowd how good it felt to be back and thanked them for coming out on the first stop of the Decibel Magazine tour. At the Gates continued playing their classic staple hits such as: Under a Serpent Sun, Cold, Nausea, and World of Lies. The band seemed to be finished and the lights turned off, but just when the crowd thought the show was over, purple lights once again lit the stage up and the band came back out to play the first encore, Blinded By Fear. Following that, Lindberg asked the crowd, “Do you like old school death metal!?” The crowd screamed and raised their horns in agreement just as At the Gates played their second encore, Kingdom Gone. To finish off the show, they played the final track off their new album, Night Eternal where as each band member finished their parts, they left the stage until only guitarist Martin Larsson and bassist Jonas Björler were on stage for the ending of the song. All the band members came back to thank the fans, threw drumsticks and guitar picks, bowed to everyone and took their leave. At the Gates has returned after many years, but for how long remains to be seen.
Review by: Misael Ruiz
