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Legendary Swedish progressive death metal band At the Gates, fresh on the heels of passing on to the dark realm of vocalist Tomas Lindberg, has commissioned faithful re-issues of its first three albums.

The label says:

Three landmark releases from Swedish melodic death metal pioneers At The Gates are set to return on May 22nd with newly remastered CD editions, bringing together a crucial era in the band’s groundbreaking early catalogue. Spanning their formative trilogy, these reissues capture the evolution of a band that helped define the Gothenburg sound and reshape extreme metal in the early 1990s.

This trio of reissues begins with their 1992 debut, ‘The Red in the Sky Is Ours’, a raw and innovative statement of intent originally released via Peaceville’s Deaf imprint. Emerging from the ashes of the band Grotesque, At The Gates introduced a uniquely intricate and brutal sound, elevated by unexpected elements such as violin arrangements. Widely regarded as a genre classic, the album’s intensity and originality – highlighted by standout tracks like ‘Kingdom Gone’ – set the blueprint for what would follow.

Their 1993 follow-up, ‘With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness’, marked a significant progression in both ambition and execution. Recorded at the legendary Sunlight Studios and produced by Tomas Skogsberg, the album expanded the band’s sonic palette with complex melodic structures, philosophical lyricism, and subtle black metal influences. A defining release for many longtime fans, it also features a guest appearance by Matti Kärki of Dismember.

Completing the set is 1994’s ‘Terminal Spirit Disease’, the band’s third album and a pivotal moment in their artistic development. Showcasing a more streamlined and immediate songwriting approach, the album balances aggression with accessibility, paving the way for the refined direction later heard on ‘Slaughter of the Soul’. Its dynamic and memorable compositions further cemented At The Gates’ status as leaders of the European death metal movement.

EACH OF THESE EDITIONS IS PRESENTED ON JEWEL CASE CD WITH BOOKLETS FAITHFUL TO THE ORIGINAL RELEASES, AND ALL FEATURE NEWLY REMASTERED, BAND-APPROVED AUDIO BY RENOWNED PRODUCER DAN SWANÖ AT UNISOUND STUDIOS. PRE-ORDER HERE.

Formed in Gothenburg in 1990, At The Gates quickly rose through the ranks of the burgeoning Scandinavian death metal scene, forging a style that fused technical precision, melodic complexity, and uncompromising aggression. Across four influential studio albums before their initial split in 1996, the band established a legacy that would continue long after their reformation in 2007, both on stage and in the studio, until the recent passing of iconic vocalist Tomas Lindberg.

In the cynical view of the longtime listener, the first album is worth having in any collection, even if the football death metal guys hate it and the Reddit/Metal-Archives Opeth poseurs lurve it.

Enigmatic, genre-bending R&B metal duo sace6 have dropped their latest single Allured and the accompanying official video via Sumerian Records. The track is taken from the band’s upcoming new full-length Brutalist, set for release on Friday, May 8. Speaking about the song, the duo shared: “Our third single off of Brutalist – Allured the devastating […]

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Sydney’s rising metalcore kings Melrose Avenue are back with another track, Bad Guy. Challenging their artistry, this track is arguably the band’s heaviest track to date. The track pushes the band into a new space and is sure to be an instant hit with the band’s international and ever-growing fanbase. Ahead of the band’s headlining […]

Austin psych-rock trailblazers The Black Angels will return to Australia and New Zealand in 2026 for a special run of shows marking 20 years since the release of their landmark debut album Passover (2006). Newly announced headline dates in Melbourne and Adelaide join previously confirmed shows as part of VIVID (Sydney), Open Season (Brisbane) and […]

With zero announcements or teasers from the band, Enter Shikari have today surprise released their brand new album. Lose Your Self (released via So Recordings/Civilians) spans 12 tracks exploring themes of desolation, futility and complete despair at the state of the world, but with glimmers of hopefulness and optimism threaded throughout. Whilst the likes of […]

Recently announcing a new chapter for Plini, with the prolific Australian guitarist, composer and producer announcing the release of a brand new album An Unnameable Desire, set for release on Friday, April 24, comes Manala, the second track accompanied with a brand new music video. Manala follows the album’s title track and Plini shares, “Following […]

From the early days of death metal, a hybrid of Sarcofago and Deicide adds its own flavor through a modern death metal style internal dialogue of riffs producing moments of great clarity from seemingly random visions of darkness.

The best death metal does this of course: it takes a few fragments of a scene, turns them into a living narrative, then has them fight it out and become a churning conflict that resolves itself not through human morality but supremacy of higher relevance to the end result.

While the percussion follows more of a European style akin to that of proto-underground bands, guitars clearly aspire to an Incantation or Immolation style of protracted, contorted riffs that give these demos a resonant feral obscurity.

Available through Headsplit Records.

Envers moi-même
J’ai trop valsé
Avec les crève-cœurs que je sème

On Clair-obscur, David Emme arrives with the rare self-possession of an artist who seems to have chosen his limitations carefully and then made them eloquent. The Quebec City musician works in a palette familiar to post-punk and new wave: trim bass lines, cool keyboards, percussion with a stern sense of purpose, a voice held at a slight remove. Across four French-language songs, he studies strain, yearning, and the small ceremonies of survival with a sophisticated poise.

Étranger opens the EP with a mood of self-estrangement that never slips into theatrical excess. Emme sings from within the debris of his own past decisions, sounding bruised, restless, and quietly searching for a path out of private ruin. The arrangement gives the song a graceful pressure, as if each part were tightening around a thought the singer cannot quite release. We feel the sense of someone trying to walk upright while carrying the weight of old damage.

The centerpiece, L’échine, deepens the record’s concerns and broadens its scale. Here, personal unease seems to touch the larger instability of the present tense. The instrumentation has force, though it is deployed with restraint, and Emme allows a thin strand of resolve to move through the song’s unease.

Brèche is the EP’s most tender offering, though even tenderness arrives with difficulty. Its plea is directed toward someone sealed within themselves, and the song circles the problem of emotional access with unusual delicacy. Sleeplessness, memory, fear, and longing pass through the lyric like weather fronts. Emme’s vocal carries an ache that never begs for sympathy. It simply stays close to the wound.

Then comes Encore, which introduces a more sensuous sweep without loosening the EP’s discipline. Its romantic hunger, touched by the polished drama of eighties pop, lends the closing stretch a lift that feels briefly transportive. Yet even here, desire remains entangled with grief and recurrence, bringing to mind Holy Wire and Stare Away.

Listen to Clair-obscur below and order the album here.

Though the record’s title, Clair-obscur, suggests contrast, David Emme is less interested in stark oppositions than in gradations of feeling. His songs live in intermediate states: affection under pressure, doubt dressed as discipline, hope appearing in narrow bands. The production, handled with Jeremy Cornellier and mastered by Francis Ledoux, favors depth over clutter. Synths gather like mist on glass. The guitars keep their edge without turning blunt or bludgeoning. The drums move with a steady insistence that gives the songs shape and forward motion, even when the sentiments inside them threaten collapse.

Clair-obscur is a strong first statement: elegant, unsettled, and persuasive in its understanding that feeling often arrives mixed, never pure, and almost never resolved.

Follow David Emme:

• Instagram
• Spotify
• Bandcamp

The post “The Heartbreaks I Sow” — Quebec City Coldwave Artist David Emme Unveils Rueful “Clair-obscur” EP appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

The latter was directed by the band’s own Felipe Hervoso.

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