Bloodstock Festival 2018: 10 Things We Learnt
2. Time Has No Effect On At The Gates’ Greatness
To say that the Swedish melodic death metal innovators At the Gates were greeted with a hero’s welcome as they took to the Ronnie James Dio Stage on the Sunday would be a gross understatement. From the very second that the quintet marched onstage and exploded into new single “To Drink from the Night Itself” followed by the unforgivingly taut classic “Slaughter of the Soul”, it felt like every single Bloodstock attendee was fully invested in the fast-paced extremity that was on offer.
For an hour, Tomas Lindberg and his merry cohorts bolted through speedy anthem after speedy anthem, with the unyielding precision, brutality and enthusiasm of men half their age. At this point, At the Gates have been going for 28 years and have released six studio albums, but their inalienable passion for performing suggested that they had only just formed yesterday.
The band’s setlist is also worthy of very lofty praise, predominantly emphasising fan-favourites from the game-changing masterpiece Slaughter of the Soul and invoking manic roars of delight with the arrival of such classics as “Cold”, “Nausea” and “Blinded by Fear”.
With their performance, At the Gates more than deserved to be hailed as the best band of the festival. However, there was one band that stood in their way…