UMUR "The Red in the Sky Is Ours" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act At the Gates. The album was released through Deaf Records in July 1992. At the Gates was formed in 1990 after Grotesque disbanded. They were part of the very fertile Gothenburg scene of the early 90s, which also spawned artists like In Flames and Dark Tranquillity.

While At the Gates are often mentioned among the forefarthers of the melodeath style, the music on "The Red in the Sky Is Ours" is not melodeath by any means. At least only in very small portions. There are plenty of melodic guitar themes featured throughout the album, but the music on this particular At the Gates album is a much more eclectic size to be just labelled melodeath. The album features elements from technical death/thrash metal, melodic death metal, blackened death metal, and even a couple of nods toward folk metal. The latter is only true when the band incorporate the use of folky violin playing a couple of times during the playing time, but it´s there and therefore a part of the sound on the album. The blackened edge mostly stems from Tomas Lindberg´s singing style which is a higher pitched growl than your usual more deeper growl, but also as a result of the often dark and mystic atmosphere of the music. I´m sometimes reminded of artists like Unanimated and Necrophobic. But then the band also mix in melodic guitar themes and quite technical death/thrashy riffing/drumming, and it´s hard not to get the feeling that the album is a bit "all over the place".

Stylistic inconsistency can be a huge issue for some releases, but At the Gates somehow manage to pull it off convincingly. So even though it´s obvious the band were pretty immature composers at this point, they still have so many great intriguing songwriting ideas, and a passionate, skillful, and convincing delivery of those ideas, that "The Red in the Sky Is Ours" is overall a pretty strong debut album. I´m even ready to forgive the rather thin and not too well sounding production, because of the creativity on display here and a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

Time Signature The potential is ours...

Genre: (progressive) death metal

"The Red In the Sky Is Ours" has potential and it is different from a lot of the death metal of the 90s in that it is very progressively inclined with every song containing several twists and turns and other complexities. There is absolutely nothing wrong in the songwriting department.

But what bugs me about this album is that the actual instrumental performance is not always at such a level that the otherwise brilliant ideas can be delivered satisfactorily. Especially, the drumming leaves much to be desired, and, al though this may also be a production problem, it annoys me endlessly that there are several blast beat sequences where the snare drum is virtually inaudible.

But, at the end of the day, "The Red In The Sky Is ours" is not a bad album. As I said, there are many good ideas songwritingwise on this album, which certainly makes it a worthwile addition to any death metal fan's collection.

aiylyn Progressive, prophetic, and blistering,

I'd heard often enough that this was the definitive ATG work (not surprising; a bands first album is often considered their best) but I wasted too much time before getting it - a shame because it is everything it is said to be and more. For those coming in from the Slaughter of the Soul end of things, this album is the complete opposite. There is less in the fast-tempo department and more room for odd rythms, turnaround patterns and weird time signatures; try tapping your foot to this! Several songs feature an extended violin break; at this time there was a full-time violinist in the band, a breath of fresh air for early 90's metal. Every song is vital and has a life of its own; if you're not yet an At the Gates fan, this is a great place to start.