The Clone: At the Gates

So a new tag that should be kind of fun for everyone, The Clone. Basically, I will be finding shows, bands, or whatever that remind me of some other band, show, or whatever. So today we will look at some other bands that remind me of the classic melodic death metal band At the Gates.

When I started getting into some harder music I kept hearing about this band, At the Gates and their album Slaughter of the Soul. I finally picked it up and was blown away. It was thrash metal with some great vocals by Tomas Lindberg, who made my top 10 metal vocalists. It was great. Listening to this thing from start to finish was amazing. No filler on it at all...just great. It's no shock that it made my top 5 Must Own metal albums. So if you picked it up, then you were probably disappointed, like me, to learn they broke up after this album.

So I searched high and low to find bands that sounded similar and really brought back that same style. I have a ton of melodic death metal albums and here are the ones that really remind me of At the Gates;

1. Nightrage - Descent into Chaos: this is a no brainer. I mean, their first two albums had Tomas on vocals. Descent into Chaos is my favorite from these guys and it really has that At the Gates feel to it. It is probably a bit more thrash than At the Gates had, but it works. The guitar harmonies are there and of course with Tomas on vocals you are getting the same style from At the Gates. All of Nightrage's albums are great, even A New Disease is Born (my second favorite), but if you loved Slaughter of the Soul start with this one.


2. Within Y - Extended Mental Dimensions: If Nightrage has the vocals, then this album by Within Y has the music down. Heck, even the vocals are similar. When I heard Lost in Solitude the first time, I thought it was At the Gates. The same screaming opening...classic. If you Google a review of this album, you will find almost everyone comparing it to At the Gates. The guitar tone, drumming, and vocals make this a clone of At the Gates. Some might knock it for not being original, but when you have songs that are this memorable, who cares? It's interesting to see how their sound has evolved as well. They sound more like The Haunted now than At the Gates and that's ok too.


3. Arsis - A Celebration of Guilt: before I heard Within Y, this was my fix for At the Gates. Think of this album as a more technical version of At the Gates. Vocals are dead on to Tomas. But musically, like I said, it is more technical. The tone is the same, but the guitarists go to town on showing off what they know. Oh did I say guitarists? I meant guitarist as in one. What really blew me away is when I found out that this entire album was recorded by two people! The writing on this album is actually better than Within Y's too.


4. The Absence - Riders of the Plague: This was their second album and they really stepped it up a notch. Riders of the Plague has that same death/thrash blend that At the Gates helped create. The album starts off with a scream into that Tomas perfected in At the Gates as well. The vocalist is a little deeper than Tomas, but still works. Musically is where this album really shines. The solos are great. Each one is not rushed and written hastily.


So there are 4 bands that you can go check out if you were/are a fan of At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul.