Search - At the Gates :: Terminal Spirit Disease

Kill the worm that is depression...

Euronymous | India | 11/01/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is so painfully beautiful. Don't let tags like NWSDM put it down. It is unique and doesn't need the reference of a genre for its appreciation. Tomas Lindberg lets out such an anguished heart-rending scream that I believe he feels the same inside. For some reason, he reminds me of Ricky Fitz in American Beauty who sees all `the beauty in this world' and feels `like he can't take it.' To provide a further masochistic twist to the experience, the guitars are also incredibly beautiful and sing like tortured angels. This is one album that makes me foolishly believe in an eternity- of space, time or melancholic beauty. Terminal Spirit Disease, the song, numbs me every single time I hear it and makes me a spectator of things. I feel wise, cursed and beyond redemption every time I hear it. Again, Lindberg's soaring scream sears my heart and I suspect I actually bleed inside on hearing it. This music is as dangerous as mind-bending drugs.

I'd recommend putting it on a spaceship for Extra-Terrestrial life

"

Great representation of Swedish metal....

J. Tozier | Chapel Hill, NC | 03/19/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I was first introduced to AT The Gates along with others like Dissection, Hypocrisy, Emperor, Dark Tranquility, Edge of Sanity, etc. Along with ATG, all these other bands are my "mother's milk", so to speak. Since ATG was one of my first introductions to Swedish Metal, I think that's why this album is so close to me. It's got great guitar lines, good, screaming vocals, and a drummer to match. I am especially fond of acoustic guitar work on albums like this, and "As the World Returns" is haunting, and beautiful all at the same time. Good use of the Cello, too. If you haven't experienced ATG yet, try "Slaughter of the Soul" first. That's a much more engrossing experience. But I still have to say that "Terminal Spirit Disease" is not bad. NOT bad at all."

Other worldly

lying down is the new standing up | Canada | 10/07/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Its called "melodic death", but thankfully its sound is unlike anything else out there. This band should never be classed with IF, DT, or AE(not insulting those bands). At The Gates has a more innovative and expressive style than those bands do(or ever did). Thomas Lindberg's heartwrenching screams are so expressive, he sounds like a man who has lost all faith and hope in this world.



The first song has simple Cello and violin playing a very bleak but building harmony, with ocean waves crashing in the background. The first real guitar riff is such a perfect progression on this, its sounds kind of epic, and very apocalyptic. Great riff. The short solo is executed very purposefully, there is no pointless technicality, just a perfect shot of melody. All the solos on this album are like this, and they come and go so quickly it makes them seem even more beautiful and melancholic.



Overall it sounds angry and bleak, with a kind of vain hopelessness barely coming through which is what makes it so interesting. The screams stab you right in the heart, as do the guitar solos. The mysterious instrumental is complete mastery, at one point there is six acoustic instruments playing!



Not alot of music hits me like this did. I know alot of CD's get five star reviews with people who say its the best music they've ever heard, but this is for real. You can't afford to miss this"