AT THE GATES — With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness (review)

AT THE GATES — With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness album cover Album · 1993 · Melodic Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act At the Gates. The album was released through Deaf Records in May 1993, a little under a year after the release of the band´s debut full-length studio album "The Red in the Sky Is Ours" from July 1992. At the Gates formed in 1990 after Grotesque disbanded. They were part of the fertile Gothenburg scene of the early 90s, which also spawned artists like In Flames and Dark Tranquillity.

Stylistically the material on "With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness" continue the melodic death metal style of the debut album, but it´s generally a bit more streamlined and there are less musical experiments. It´s obvious the band have honed their songswriting craft and have gone for a more consistent musical style. The music features loads of melodic guitar work from the two guitarists, varied drumming, and the distinct sounding high pitched raw vocals by lead vocalist Tomas Lindberg in front. In those days he was a highly unusual sounding vocalist in a death metal act, which made At the Gates stand out from the pack.

"With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness" features a sound production which is as thin sounding as the sound production on the debut album. You would have thought that a better sounding production would have been a priority on a sophomore release, but overall the sound hasn´t improved much, and to my ears it´s a slight issue, which prevents me from enjoying the album as much as I probably could have. Lindberg´s vocals can also be a bit grating on the ears after a while, so it´s the intriguing songwriting ideas and the high level musicianship which are the greatest assets of the album. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Human Rosin Melodic Metalcore
HATE BREEDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Through The Hell Hardcore Punk
ENEMY 906
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lightmatter: Rebirth Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Galaxy888 (Lightmatter EP Pt. 1) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us