One of the first albums I ever bought in my early teens back when it was released. I still regard it as one of the best metal albums ever made, and it has a permanent place in my car stereo cd-slot in case I ever forget my USB-stick.

I remember one particular time in school (god knows what year) when all the kids were supposed to bring their favorite song in and we'd all translate (to Swedish, my native language) and interpret the lyrics. All the other kids brought stuff like The Beatles and the Unplugged Nirvana stuff, so I made it a special point to crank the volume up a bit extra as I put on 'Suicide Nation' and watched the pale, terrified expressions of my teachers and became a legend (for a day, at least) at the PTA. Money can't buy memories like that.

Classic gothenburg album, a must to every fan of the genre.

A must have album.

Must have for sure!!!

Best Melodeth album ever made, EVER!!!!!!!

Very solid album...my favourite one out of their discography...

What a masterpiece! One of the best albums ever made.

Come on, how is this album only at 8.8? It's easily one of the best extreme metal albums ever.

One of the most overrated, if not most overrated, albums in metal history. Totally bland watered down biteless soulless pretend death metal targeted at people that can't stand actual death metal.
how can this band have devolved from the great The Red In The Sky Is Ours to this point of total middle of the road mediocrety?

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.05.2011 at 18:10

One of the most overrated, if not most overrated, albums in metal history. Totally bland watered down biteless soulless pretend death metal targeted at people that can't stand actual death metal.
how can this band have devolved from the great The Red In The Sky Is Ours to this point of total middle of the road mediocrety?

I've always felt this was more of a thrash or speed metal album than a death metal one. I don't see anything especially bad with it wither way. Not my fave album of theirs by a long shot though.

Written by [user id=4365] on 04.05.2011 at 18:57

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.05.2011 at 18:10

One of the most overrated, if not most overrated, albums in metal history. Totally bland watered down biteless soulless pretend death metal targeted at people that can't stand actual death metal.
how can this band have devolved from the great The Red In The Sky Is Ours to this point of total middle of the road mediocrety?

I've always felt this was more of a thrash or speed metal album than a death metal one. I don't see anything especially bad with it wither way. Not my fave album of theirs by a long shot though.

it is indeed more thrash or speed metal, just like old In Flames.
but even then it's bland biteless watered down
i myself would rate it a 6.
the reason this album is hailed by many is because somehow many bands decided to copy the sound. just look at all the what is called metalcore nowadays bands.
tbh this is one hell of a safe album, also by the standards of when it was released.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.05.2011 at 19:56


it is indeed more thrash or speed metal, just like old In Flames.
but even then it's bland biteless watered down
i myself would rate it a 6.
the reason this album is hailed by many is because somehow many bands decided to copy the sound. just look at all the what is called metalcore nowadays bands.
tbh this is one hell of a safe album, also by the standards of when it was released.

I was going to suggest that you might feel differently about this record if it hadn't been the blueprint for modern day metalcore. With each copy-cat that came out it was hard not think less and less of this record even though it was hardly At The Gates' fault they'd be copied so extensively 6 or 7 years later or whatever it was.

Written by [user id=4365] on 04.05.2011 at 20:10

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.05.2011 at 19:56


it is indeed more thrash or speed metal, just like old In Flames.
but even then it's bland biteless watered down
i myself would rate it a 6.
the reason this album is hailed by many is because somehow many bands decided to copy the sound. just look at all the what is called metalcore nowadays bands.
tbh this is one hell of a safe album, also by the standards of when it was released.

I was going to suggest that you might feel differently about this record if it hadn't been the blueprint for modern day metalcore. With each copy-cat that came out it was hard not think less and less of this record even though it was hardly At The Gates' fault they'd be copied so extensively 6 or 7 years later or whatever it was.

if I had taken that into account I would rate it a 4
i already considered it bland and such when it was released and really couldn't understand the raving reviews, like by Terrorizer and such, at the time.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.05.2011 at 21:09

if I had taken that into account I would rate it a 4
i already considered it bland and such when it was released and really couldn't understand the raving reviews, like by Terrorizer and such, at the time.

While I wasn't listening to metal at the time of this album's release, it was one of the first albums I remember checking out when I tried getting into different genres. If I had stopped looking into metal's various sub-genres after listening to this, I doubt I would be a metalhead to this day. It's a pretty dry album, does nothing for me but lull me to sleep.

That being said, I'm not one of their fans who likes the old stuff either. I don't think I like any AtG release.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.05.2011 at 18:10

One of the most overrated, if not most overrated, albums in metal history. Totally bland watered down biteless soulless pretend death metal targeted at people that can't stand actual death metal.
how can this band have devolved from the great The Red In The Sky Is Ours to this point of total middle of the road mediocrety?

I simply cannot agree with you on that one. I absolutely love this album. I do not believe this is pretend death metal targeted to anyone. This is just the music these guys made. I love the very thrashy instrumentation and the vocals.

Written by JCJen7 on 01.06.2011 at 04:09

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.05.2011 at 18:10

One of the most overrated, if not most overrated, albums in metal history. Totally bland watered down biteless soulless pretend death metal targeted at people that can't stand actual death metal.
how can this band have devolved from the great The Red In The Sky Is Ours to this point of total middle of the road mediocrety?

I simply cannot agree with you on that one. I absolutely love this album. I do not believe this is pretend death metal targeted to anyone. This is just the music these guys made. I love the very thrashy instrumentation and the vocals.

I think why this is referred to as pretend death metal is because it is simply isn't death metal at all.... For some reason it is called "Melodic Death Metal" This album is Melodic (Obviously) but where is the Death metal? Compare This for example to Entombed or Dismember (for some reason I like to name drop them a lot) Who Utilise melody (to a lesser extent mind) but are still Death Metal. This problem extends to similar bands such as In Flames and Amon Amarth who are playing (Despite the harsh vocals) What amounts to a Very commercial sound that is far removed from what Death Metal actually is.

I thinks this album is Overrated also and I agree with Marcel that the RITSIO is far superior.

I need this album!!!

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.05.2011 at 18:10

How can this band have devolved from the great The Red In The Sky Is Ours to this point of total middle of the road mediocrety?

Written by @gent_-_orange on 05.06.2011 at 00:03

I thinks this album is Overrated also and I agree with Marcel that the RITSIO is far superior.

Same here pals. The Red in the Sky Is Ours and With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness are pretty damn good albums imo, don't know where the nspiration and music quality went after that.

Written by @gent_-_orange on 05.06.2011 at 00:03

I thinks this album is Overrated also and I agree with Marcel that the RITSIO is far superior.

What basis do any of you have for saying its overrated other than your subjective tastes and that it doesn't strictly conform to death metal? It was one of the first of its genre. As much as I don't like metalcore/melodic death type stuff this one sounds authentic to me, and I pretty much dig anything authentic and original.

Written by Grody2themax on 15.11.2011 at 01:43
What basis do any of you have for saying its overrated other than your subjective tastes and that it doesn't strictly conform to death metal? It was one of the first of its genre. As much as I don't like metalcore/melodic death type stuff this one sounds authentic to me, and I pretty much dig anything authentic and original.

He said it was overrated, not unoriginal. Apples and oranges.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 15.11.2011 at 02:08

Written by Grody2themax on 15.11.2011 at 01:43
What basis do any of you have for saying its overrated other than your subjective tastes and that it doesn't strictly conform to death metal? It was one of the first of its genre. As much as I don't like metalcore/melodic death type stuff this one sounds authentic to me, and I pretty much dig anything authentic and original.

He said it was overrated, not unoriginal. Apples and oranges.

You can call any album overrated, and even that is somewhat subjective. I just meant that this album being overrated seems to be just getting thrown into sentences without much thought. You do have people praising it for being the original melodic death/gothenberg album, but then again trendsetters usually have something to say.

Written by Grody2themax on 15.11.2011 at 02:36
You can call any album overrated, and even that is somewhat subjective. I just meant that this album being overrated seems to be just getting thrown into sentences without much thought. You do have people praising it for being the original melodic death/gothenberg album, but then again trendsetters usually have something to say.

Well it's an 8.9/10 on here with 600 votes. That's a lot of praise from a lot of people, so if one person thinks it's say, an 8/10 it's going to look severely overrated even with them giving it a high mark.

But, as you said, that's a completely objective remark. People personally think things are overrated. But the majority thinks those people don't know what they're talking about.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 15.11.2011 at 02:42

Well it's an 8.9/10 on here with 600 votes. That's a lot of praise from a lot of people, so if one person thinks it's say, an 8/10 it's going to look severely overrated even with them giving it a high mark.

But, as you said, that's a completely objective remark. People personally think things are overrated. But the majority thinks those people don't know what they're talking about.

I think it probably deserves an 8 or a 9 from me individually. The high rating is probably due to the amount of 15-16 yr old kids who mindlessly rated it a 10 without thinking, but its also a pretty iconic album to a lot of people though. Whatever, overrated or not, a very respectable album lol.

Written by nms on 05.03.2010 at 04:15

One of the first albums I ever bought in my early teens back when it was released. I still regard it as one of the best metal albums ever made, and it has a permanent place in my car stereo cd-slot in case I ever forget my USB-stick.

I remember one particular time in school (god knows what year) when all the kids were supposed to bring their favorite song in and we'd all translate (to Swedish, my native language) and interpret the lyrics. All the other kids brought stuff like The Beatles and the Unplugged Nirvana stuff, so I made it a special point to crank the volume up a bit extra as I put on 'Suicide Nation' and watched the pale, terrified expressions of my teachers and became a legend (for a day, at least) at the PTA. Money can't buy memories like that.

cheers for that

an amazing album, and one of the first metal albums I've ever heard, thanks to my cousin's suggestion. It was great seeing them at the Gods of Metal in 2008

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.05.2011 at 19:56

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.05.2011 at 18:10

One of the most overrated, if not most overrated, albums in metal history. Totally bland watered down biteless soulless pretend death metal targeted at people that can't stand actual death metal.

it is indeed more thrash or speed metal, just like old In Flames.
but even then it's bland biteless watered down
i myself would rate it a 6.
the reason this album is hailed by many is because somehow many bands decided to copy the sound. just look at all the what is called metalcore nowadays bands.
tbh this is one hell of a safe album, also by the standards of when it was released.

Well why do you think so many people copied it?? Because people fuckin love it!
Its copied because its loved, not loved because its copied.

In fact ive listened to this album way more than ive listened to any In Flames, DT, or any other Gothenberg album.

And sure you could say its for people who dont like "actual death metal" but whats wrong with that? whats wrong with liking Melodeath/gothenberg more than traditional death metal"? I still enjoy some death metal occosionally but stuff more melodic suits me better and thats why i love this album. Its heavy, thrashy and harsh but still maintains a melodic coating.

A true classic!

Very good album,very aggressive evil melodic death metal.But not even close to the greatness of Heartwork and Gallery.

Written by bblitz on 09.04.2013 at 15:24

Very good album,very aggressive evil melodic death metal.But not even close to the greatness of Heartwork and Gallery.

evil and aggressive this one?
nothing aggressive or evil at all going on here, imo.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 09.04.2013 at 15:32

Written by bblitz on 09.04.2013 at 15:24

Very good album,very aggressive evil melodic death metal.But not even close to the greatness of Heartwork and Gallery.

evil and aggressive this one?
nothing aggressive or evil at all going on here, imo.

Wrong album indeed... That might work with their debut.

Written by bblitz on 09.04.2013 at 15:24

Very good album,very aggressive evil melodic death metal.But not even close to the greatness of Heartwork and Gallery.

Nothing At The Gates have made has been particularly evil (except maybe their debut EP), and this album is certainly not aggressive. If this comment was on one their earlier album's pages I would agree with it.