We have three music premieres coming your way today, but before we begin rolling them out, here are a couple of quick notes that caught my eye this morning.
AT THE GATES
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know by now that Sweden’s At the Gates have recorded a comeback album entitled At War With Reality that’s due for release by Century Media on October 27th in Europe and October 28th in North America. Today the band revealed the cover art for the album (above), which was created by one of our favorite metal artists, Costin Chioreanu (twilight13media.com). As for the relationship between the art and the album, and how Chioreanu came to be involved in the project, we received a press release that included these statements.
From AtG vocalist/lyricist Tomas Lindberg:
“The concept of At War with Reality is based on the literary genre called ‘Magic Realism’. The main style within this genre is the notion that ‘reality’ is ever-changing, and needs to be constantly re-discovered and re-conquered. We felt that Costin’s artwork style would be the perfect visual contribution to this album, so he became the natural choice…”
From AtG guitarist and main songwriter Anders Björler:
“I got in touch with Costin a few years back. I was immediately impressed with his dark and original style. He collaborated on some T-shirt designs for AT THE GATES as well as designing the album artwork for my Instrumental Project. We realized pretty early on that his style would accompany the music and the concept perfectly.”
And from Costin Chioreanu himself:
“I have been waiting for this album for almost 20 years and it’s the biggest honor for me to illustrate it — as there is no greater achievement for a dreamer than the moment when the dream becomes reality. At War With Reality is by far the most complex visual story I have ever created, from all points of view. From the very first moment the band presented the concept, I found it extremely stunning and at the same time super-challenging. I like to think that visual art and music are tools to explore our minds — to create, to discover and to push the limits. AT THE GATES, one of my all-time favorite Metal bands, offered me a chance to explore a new dimension.”
ANAAL NATHRAKH
This is the first time we will be posting the information below. The second time will come next week when it will be accompanied by at least something to look at and something to hear. And why will we be posting the information twice? Because we welcome this new cacophony.
This statement appeared on the Facebook page of Anaal Nathrakh yesterday:
“Finally, we are reaching the stage where things are coming together for the impending release of our new cacophony. For now, we can divulge that the title will be Desideratum. Everything is in Metal Blade’s hands ready for pressing, artwork is finalised, and the release date is pencilled in pending final confirmation.
“Expect an update approximately this time next week with release date, preorder information, and a streaming track from the album. Following that, more information and hopefully preview tracks will be made available in the run up to the day itself. Preparations for triage and all emergency measures should be made now.
“Nearly there…”
Oh hell, we need something to look at now. So here’s a picture of a new t-shirt (the art comes on hoodies, pullovers, and other attire and is selling here):
2 Responses to “SEEN AND HEARD: AT THE GATES AND ANAAL NATHRAKH”
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The ATG art is much “cleaner” than I would have expected, but that only makes me more intrigued to hear this album.
I’m only just now starting to feel a sense of excitement about the new ATG album. Previously I was curiously ambivalent to the idea, but I am definitely starting to come around.
New Anaal Nathrakh though has had me frothing at the mouth since… well, since Vanitas actually. They’re one of those bands I just always want to hear more from, all the time.