### Tribute to At The Gates

#### 25/10/06 || Lord K Philipson

I fucken despise tribute albums. Why? Becoz they always fucken suck massive cock. There might be this occasional decent tune on there but most of the time it’s just utter crap that one gets to hear. With this in mind I’m not exactly pissing myself with high expectations here…

14 bands means 14 tracks and I’ll go thru each and every one of them now, and I’ll also rate the performances from 1 to 10. Let’s start with one of the Swedish bands (who are over-represented here along with bands having a moniker with “oath” or “eternal”), namely Taetre. Their version of the song “At the gates” is, as expected, boring as fuck and I can’t even hear it’s a cover. Maybe becoz I’m not too familiar with the album this song is from. Or maybe becoz the cover itself sucks? Either way, it sounds like bollocks to me. 3

Sweden’s Godhate is a band that I like quite a bit when they do their own material, what can they make out of a At The Gates tune? Something quite fine actually. I don’t think “Kingdom gone” is one of ATG’s better shit but Godhate is doing a good version of it and the production is definitely fine. The guitarists of this band are obviously talented and those rhythm axes puts the original ones to shame. Good work. By the way, I always hated the middle riff in this tune. 7,5

Another Swedish band, that’s 3 in a row, this time it’s Mörk Gryning. Never liked them but this cover is actually ok, and the same goes for the production values. Bonus point for a great snare sound. Mörk Penis’ version of “Neverwhere” doesn’t stand out in any way and just leaves me with a meh in the end. It’s recorded and played properly, unlike Taetre’s version, but it’s nothing I raise my eyebrows to that often. 5

Israel’s Moonskin covers the fantastically titled “Raped by the light of Christ”. I don’t think these guys would know what a production was if it bit them in their Israelian asses. I suspect this is a drum machine as well. Can’t say that adds to the quality (that is not here). Some goth vocals on a At The Gates tune? I don’t think so. You guys fucken suck. Piss off. I never wanna hear yer original material. Don’t send anything to Global Domination. Ever. A great song when done by At The Gates, a shit-song when Moonskin does it. 2

Basque Country’s Darkness By Oath covers one of At The Gates better tunes, “The swarm”. This is definitely better than Moonskin and Taetre (like that says anything), but the drums irritate me as he’s pulling of that cheating hi-hat thing when playing fast. And this tune isn’t even fast. I’ll give it a 4,5.

Soul Demise are from Germany and got a pretty good guitar sound on this one. That’s more than I can say about the rest of the production. If no one told me this was a cover of “Forever blind”, I wouldn’t know. 3

Eternal Oath, hailing from Sweden, decided to do “The fevered circle”. I don’t think it matters what this band covers, it’ll end up sounding boring anyways. I expect more from my fellow Swedes, dammit! Crap vocals and a muddy production is not helping at all. 4

Eternal Gray from Israel has put their own touch to “Blinded by fear”, which I fucken appreciate. Changing the drum patterns a little is a nice touch. I dig this, and together with Godhate it’s the best version of a At The Gates tune yet. Those clean vocals could have been left out though and we could have had a better production, but the song is nicely covered and I can’t tell these guys to fuck off just yet. 7

Denmark’s Illdisposed covers “Slaughter of the soul”. When it comes to these guys I know the quality will be top notch, and it is. Definitely the best cover so far, closely followed by Godhate. These guys know how to deliver the goods. 8

Enter Chaos from Poland settled for “Cold”. They also settled for a shit production. I can’t stand listen to this. Pure and utter bullshit. Crap vocals, crap production and a sub-decent performance at best. The bass sounds awesome though. The complete package does fucken not. 3

Holland’s Detonation plays thru “Under a serpent sun”. Good for them. Great song in its original form, Detonation doesn’t do it justice. The few blasts incorporated is a nice thing though. 4,5

Misanthrope is from France. They eat fucken frogs in France. “Suicide nation” gets a 4,5 as well.

Sweden’s Paganizer (which features ex GD-staffer Rogga on vocals) covers “Nausea”. Rogga’s vocals are ace, their filthy death metal version of this tune is decent, at best. Get a fucken drummer who can play at least before paying tribute to At The Gates. 4

The U.S band Vile plays “Cold” (just like Enter Chaos), but Vile’s version is a live one. And it sounds fine. Impressive that this live version is better than most of the tunes on this tribute. 7

This is a tribute to At The Gates so I won’t comment on the band (In Aeternum) who’s doing a Grotesque cover as a bonus. I won’t even bother listening to it coz Grotesque always sucked.

All in all, exactly what I expected. A few semi-highlights and alot of fucken crap. None of the tunes here beat the originals. Of course not.

- Information
- Released: Yes, it is.
- Label: Drowned Scream Records
- Website: www.drownedscream.net

- Tracklist
- 01. Taetre (Sweden): At the Gates
- 02. Godhate (Sweden): Kingdom Gone
- 03. Mörk Gryning (Sweden): Neverwhere
- 04. Moonskin (Israel): Raped by the Light of Christ
- 05. Darkness By Oath (Basque Country): The Swarm
- 06. Soul Demise (Germany): Forever Blind
- 07. Eternal Oath (Sweden): The Fevered Circle
- 08. Eternal Gray (Israel): Blinded by Fear
- 09. Illdisposed (Denmark): Slaughter of the Soul
- 10. Enter Chaos(Poland): Cold
- 11. Detonation (Holland): Under a Serpent Sun
- 12. Misanthrope (France): Suicide Nation
- 13. Paganizer (Sweden): Nausea
- 14. Vile (USA): Cold (live)