At War with Reality

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At War with Reality
AtTheGatesAtWarWithReality.png
Studio album by At the Gates
Released 28 October 2014
Recorded 24 June-18 July 2014
Studio "El Altar del Dios Desconocido" at HVR Studios, Ipswich
all other tracks at Studio Fredman
Genre Melodic death metal
Length 44:16
Label Century Media Records
Producer Fredrik Nordström
At the Gates chronology
Captor of Sin / Mandatory Suicide
(2014)Captor of Sin / Mandatory Suicide2014		 At War with Reality
(2014)

At War with Reality is the fifth studio album by Swedish death metal band At the Gates, released on 28 October 2014.[1][2] It is the band's first album since Slaughter of the Soul (1995), marking the longest gap between two studio albums in their career, and their first release on Century Media Records.[2] It is a concept album based on the literary genre of magic realism.[3] At War with Reality received positive reviews from music critics, and music videos were released for "Death and the Labyrinth", "Heroes and Tombs" and The Book of Sand (The Abomination)".

Background

After breaking up in 1996, At the Gates announced on October 18, 2007 that they would reunite for several reunion shows in the summer of 2008.[4] Throughout July 2008, they toured the US and Canada on what was dubbed the "Suicidal Final Tour", and the last date of the tour took place in Athens, Greece, with guest The Ocean on September 21, 2008. Despite playing a handful of successful reunion shows, members of At the Gates stated that they would not record a new album,[5] suggesting that it would be "pointless to release something more than ten years after Slaughter of the Soul."[6]

After a two-year hiatus, At the Gates announced their second reunion in December 2010, and that they would do a "limited run of select shows" in 2011. They also announced that they would "stick to the initial promise of not making any more music."[7] Asked in October 2012 about the possibility of new At the Gates material, frontman Tomas Lindberg replied, "Well, basically, I've learned never to say never. We said we'd never do any more shows whatsoever and now we're doing shows [again]. 2008 was the last tour we were going to do and now we are doing more [shows]. I learned not to say never you know."[8]

On January 21, 2014, At the Gates released a distorted video on YouTube showing lines of lyrics on it, followed by text saying "2014", possibly hinting toward possible lyrics for an upcoming album. Six days later, the band revealed on Facebook via a new cover photo and profile picture, that they had signed to Century Media Records, and would begin recording their fifth album At War with Reality in June/July for a tentative October/November 2014 release.[2]

On August 14, the band announced they had completed the album, and that it would be released on October 28.[1]

In a November 2014 interview, Lindberg was asked whether At War with Reality is At the Gates' final album or the band will continue recording. His response was, "We can't say really. We have no plans of stopping but we've broken promises before so it's best not to say anything."[9]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Alternative Press 3.5/5 stars[10]
Blabbermouth 8.5/10 stars[11]
Exclaim! 10/10 stars[12]
MetalSucks 5/5 stars[13]
Pitchfork Media 6.9/10[14]
Punknews.org 4/5 stars[15]
Rock Sound 8/10[16]
Sputnikmusic 2.5/5[17]
Wondering Sound 4/5 stars[18]

Upon release, At War with Reality received universal acclaim. Ray Van Horn, Jr. of Blabbermouth.net rated the album eight-and-a-half stars out of ten, and called it "probably the most anticipated metal album" of 2014. He finished his review by saying that "At the Gates make mincemeat out of this album and efficiently plot most of their songs to wrap in far less time than their acolytes. The average song on At War with Reality clocks in between two-and-a-half and four minutes, yet all feel like far more has transcended. That's something special. Inadvertently and unfairly credited for the ascension of metalcore, At the Gates releases a demonstrative comeback album that's simply metal, forget the 'core-rellations."[11]

At War with Reality was At the Gates' first album to chart in multiple countries. The album peaked at number three on the Swedish chart Sverigetopplistan,[19] and reached number 53 on the Billboard 200.[20]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Tomas Lindberg except where noted, all music composed by Anders Björler and Jonas Björler.

No. Title Lyrics Length
1. "El Altar del Dios Desconocido" ("The Altar of the Unknown God") Ernesto Sabato 1:06
2. "Death and the Labyrinth"     2:33
3. "At War with Reality"     3:09
4. "The Circular Ruins"     4:28
5. "Heroes and Tombs"     3:59
6. "The Conspiracy of the Blind"     3:19
7. "Order from Chaos"     3:26
8. "The Book of Sand (The Abomination)"     4:28
9. "The Head of the Hydra"     3:38
10. "City of Mirrors" (instrumental)   2:06
11. "Eater of Gods"     3:51
12. "Upon Pillars of Dust"     2:39
13. "The Night Eternal"     5:37
Total length:
 44:16
Vinyl / Cassette
Double Disc

Formats

  • Jewel Case CD (20 pages Booklet)
  • Ltd. Mediabook CD (40 pages booklet, 2 bonus tracks & patch, CM Europe)
  • Digipak CD (20 pages booklet, 2 bonustracks & patch, CM USA)
  • Ltd. 3-Disc Artbook (48 pages booklet, 4 bonus tracks, 5.1 surround mix DVD & patch) / Limited to 3,000 copies
  • Cassette (Limited to 500 copies)
  • Digital Download
  • 2×10” Boxset (20 pages booklet & poster) / Limited to 1,000x copies worldwide from CM Distro
  • 12″ Gatefold 180gr LP (20 pages booklet & poster)
The 12” LP format coloured vinyl editions
  • Black (Unlimited)
  • Transparent Red (Limited to 300x copies from CM Webshop Europe)
  • Dark Green (Limited to 500x copies from CM Distro Europe)
  • Clear (Limited to 500x copies for Sweden originally, but was distributed all over EU)
  • Solid Red (Limited to 500x copies for Sweden)
  • Lilac Marble (Limited to 100x copies from CM Distro USA) (*SOLD OUT)
  • Blue Marble (Limited to 200x copies from CM Distro USA) (*SOLD OUT)
  • Magenta Marble (Limited to 200x copies from CM Distro USA) (*SOLD OUT)
  • Ash Grey Marble (Limited to 500x copies from CM Distro USA)
  • Silver (Limited to 400x copies from CM USA)
  • Gold (Limited to 1,500x copies from CM USA)
  • White (Limited to 100x copies, exclusive MDF edition in the USA)

Personnel

Charts

Chart (2014-2015) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[21] 39
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[22] 78
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[23] 162
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[24] 15
French Albums (SNEP)[25] 175
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[26] 25
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[19] 3
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[27] 51
US Billboard 200[20] 53
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[28] 10
US Top Hard Rock Albums (Billboard)[29] 4
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[30] 9
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[31] 11

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ http://www.centurymedia.com/newsdetailed.aspx?IdNews=14763&IdCompany=3
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Swedishcharts.com – At The Gates – At War With Reality". Hung Medien.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "At The Gates – Chart history" Billboard 200 for At The Gates.
  21. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – At The Gates – At War With Reality" (in German). Hung Medien.
  22. ↑ "Ultratop.be – At The Gates – At War With Reality" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  23. ↑ "Ultratop.be – At The Gates – At War With Reality" (in French). Hung Medien.
  24. ↑ "At The Gates: At War With Reality" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  25. ↑ "Lescharts.com – At The Gates – At War With Reality". Hung Medien.
  26. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
  27. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – At The Gates – At War With Reality". Hung Medien.
  28. ↑ "At The Gates – Chart history" Billboard Independent Albums for At The Gates.
  29. ↑ "At The Gates – Chart history" Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums for At The Gates.
  30. ↑ "At The Gates – Chart history" Billboard Top Rock Albums for At The Gates.
  31. ↑ "At The Gates – Chart history" Billboard Top Tastemaker Albums for At The Gates.
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