AT THE GATES: 'Death And The Labyrinth' Video Released

"Death And The Labyrinth", the new video from seminal Swedish metallers AT THE GATES, can be seen below. The clip was helmed by Swedish director Patric Ullaeus of the Revolver Film Company AB, who has previously worked with HAMMERFALL, DIMMU BORGIR, EUROPE, LACUNA COIL and IN FLAMES, among many others.

"Death And The Labyrinth" is taken from AT THE GATES' much-anticipated comeback studio album, "At War With Reality", which will be released on October 28 (one day earlier internationally) via Century Media. The CD was recorded at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg and was mixed at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden with Jens Bogren (OPETH, KATATONIA, SOILWORK, PARADISE LOST, KREATOR). The cover artwork for the effort was designed by Costin Chioreanu, who has previously also worked with bands such as ARCH ENEMY, MORGOTH and DARKTHRONE. Chioreanu gave the strong lyrical theme of "At War With Reality" an outstanding conceptual togetherness with the visuals he crafted for this project.

Comments AT THE GATES vocalist Tomas Lindberg: "We had a very special idea about the kind of approach we wanted for the first video from 'At War With Reality'. What we needed was someone gifted enough to throw himself artistically into the project full on.

"The lyrics to the song are very multi-layered and surreal, so we wanted someone to create a fevered dreamworld that went with the melancholic frustration and dramatic desperation that we feel comes across in the song. This is exactly what Patric has created for us. It's his vision of the music and lyrics, which compliments the track perfectly, in my opinion. I couldn't be happier!"

Adds Ullaeus: "It's always nice to work with creative artists who are like-minded. Ideas seem to flow easily. We had a lot of fun making our vision come true. Being on these amazing locations in Antelope Canyon, Arizona was truly an unforgettable experience."

"At War With Reality" track listing

01. El Altar Del Dios Desconocido
02. Death And The Labyrinth
03. At War With Reality
04. The Circular Ruins
05. Heroes And Tombs
06. The Conspiracy Of The Blind
07. Order From Chaos
08. The Book Of Sand (The Abomination)
09. The Head Of The Hydra
10. City Of Mirrors
11. Eater Of Gods
12. Upon Pillars Of Dust
13. The Night Eternal

Tomas recently told Horns Up Rocks! abour the writing and recording process for "At War With Reality": "We've been very, very meticulous with this one. With the writing process, it went through a thousand different filters before we actually said that we were finished with the writing. But, you know, the way we did it — like, we didn't announce that we were doing a new record until we had all the material, so we actually wrote in secrecy, so we weren't stressed about what other people might think or how they would react. So we actually had an idea that anything goes — we should try anything that comes into our heads, but also anything could be thrown away. So it's lot of 'kill your darlings' — everybody has to agree about everything that was recorded. And that takes a lot of time. But if you have a positive, creative vibe where everybody is willing to sacrifice their favorite parts, or whatever, to make the best compromise, you will come up with a great album, if you take your time… That's where the maturity comes in. Back in [our] early 20s, it's your way or the highway, whereas now, it's actually [more] important for me that everybody else is happy than I'm happy. It's a totally different vibe when we do this now."

Regarding the "At War With Reality" title, Tomas said: "It's actually an old title that Martin [Larsson, guitar] had been fooling around [with] back in the '90s. And when the idea of the album came up and I started writing lyrics, I actually remembered that title and felt that it could be a good starting point for the concept of the record. So that's why we used it."