Yesterday, legendary Swedish death metallers At the Gates announced the departure of founding guitarist Anders Björler. Obviously, the loss of a key songwriter stands to impact the band—the group intends to eventually replace him—but it certainly hasn’t slowed the Decibel Hall of Famers and Decibel Tour alumni just yet. Today vocalist Tomas Lindberg tells Decibel that ATG are already deeply focused on the band’s future.
“Even before Anders had definitely made up his mind, me and Jonas [Björler, bass] had started to work on new material,” says the signature growler. “We are hungry to write new stuff and it is very fulfilling to compose together, something that we have been doing, me and him since 1990.
“The new stuff is a continuation of the journey that we started with At War with Reality,” Lindberg continues. “We are still after that same emotional impact that we find being the core element of the At the Gates sound, the melancholy, the desperation and the heartfelt honesty, that can be traced back to [1993’s] With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness [album].
With three new songs already complete, the band aren’t rushing to pen an album’s worth of new material just yet. But, to hear Lindberg explain, that renewed excitement in the writing process is likely to propel the band towards completing the follow up to 2014’s At War with Reality much sooner than later.
“The stuff so far is 100% At the Gates,” says the vocalist, “and won’t disappoint anyone who has been following the band from the start, Swedish death metal with pure emotion. We learned a lot writing, recording and touring At War with Reality, and that will of course come into the writing of its follow up. Me, Jonas, Martin and Adrian are convinced that we have a really strong album in the works, and are excited to start working on it. Of course, there is a big lyrical theme to this record as well, but I will keep you in the dark for what that is until the time comes.”
