At the Gates - Terminal Spirit Disease (1994)

As you probably know, At the Gates was one of the most highly influential bands to emerge from Sweden's glistening metal underground in the early 90's, although during their original tenure ('90-'96) the band failed to garner the attention they deserved and they went by mostly unrecognized. I guess it was about eight or nine years ago that their final full-length, 1995's, 'Slaughter of the Soul' rapidly gained attention and suddenly At the Gates was a household name, despite the fact that the band had been finished for years and the members had all moved onto new bands.

Anyway, 'Terminal Spirit Disease' was their third full-length album, although its a bit of a weird one since it contains six studio tracks and three live cuts, which in my opinion makes it look more like two EPs paired together, but that's just me. This was also the first At the Gates release where the Björler twins assumed full creative control after Alf Svensson had departed from the band a year earlier. The Björler twins, Anders and Jonas, have stated a few times that this is their strongest release, and it's really not surprising since the six studio tracks are among the most elite in the melodic death metal genre.

What makes these songs so great is that each of them have a strong emotional touch to them, in fact, I wouldn't hesitate to say the opening riff to, 'The Swarm' has something of a sad tone to it, which is very inviting and grabs your interest instantly as it plays alongside the violin in the beginning. This goes double for the acoustic instrumental piece, 'And the World Returned,' which is an absolutely heartbreakingly beautiful song, which features fast acoustic guitars near side of a violin and cello. The remaining four songs again have that emotional twist present as well they are fast, catchy hard hitting songs which should hit home with any melodeath fan.

Of course, in the end most people still clamor for Slaughter of the Soul, and I do love that album as well, but personally I've always thought TSD and their debut, 'The Red in the Sky is Ours' were their finest statements. A couple of years ago this album was re-released with an additional three live tracks and may have been re-mastered too, though the original version, which I have, sounds quite fine to my ears.

Nowadays, thankfully, these guys are recognized for what they brought to melodic death metal and it even spawned a comeback of summer touring a few years ago, but will save that for another time, when I get to their massive DVD...