At the Gates

O

riginally forming in 1990 under the name of The Dwellers at the Gates of Silent Memory, they would shorten their name to At the Gates after only a week, and under the membership of Jonas Björler (bass), Adrian Erlandsson (drums), Anders Björler (guitars), Tomas Lindberg (vocals/lyrics) and Alf Svensson (guitars/lyrics) they would release the demo, Gardens of Grief (1991). Not long after the demo, At the Gates got a deal with 'Deaf Records' to release their debut proper, The Red in the Sky Is Ours (1992) less than a year later, with With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness (1993) following. For their third effort, Terminal Spirit Disease (1994), Martin Larsson took guitars (lead) and songwriting (track 5). These initial recording put At the Gates, along with Dark Tranquillity and In Flames, in the group that pioneered what is now known as melodic death metal, or the 'Gothenburg sound'.