Gothenburg-based melodic death metal pioneers AT THE GATES continue to promote their upcoming new studio album, “To Drink From The Night Itself”, (Out May 18, 2018 via CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS) by launching its newest single and music video clip for the song “Daggers Of Black Haze”.
AT THE GATES frontman Tomas Lindberg comments on the track as follows:
“Daggers of Black Haze” represents the more progressive side of the new record. It has a lot of reference-points to our early back catalogue, both style wise, and the emotional setting. It is desperate and urgent, but still melancholic and epic. It is conceptually one of the cornerstones of the album. Driving home the point of the need for a war on apathy and the populistic forces that takes advantage of it. This is a fight against the abyss. A beacon for the importance of real art, real forms of expression, and importance of our understanding of our mutual cultural history. The video was filmed by Costin Chioreanu once again, and it is full of symbolism and heavy on the conceptual side. Costin displays the war for art and the importance of standing up to the oppressive powers and paradigms with his film. It is beautiful, striking, melancholic and I am very happy to see his vision of my concept.”
Video director Costin Chioreanu added the following about his work:
“Being aware of the heavy topic in this song I realized that making a video for it represents a mandatory mission for the art, in general. Speaking today of the way how the ruling class guided the evolution in art and the perception upon it, the weight of the history, which is deeply buried in the artifacts’ structures and ideologies, I take this song and the means of illustrating it as a pure and genuine artistic attitude. In the course of time, an imposed perception projected through the manipulation of the art by those holding the power, took the shape of an idol in the viewers’ eyes, it became their main light, the source of the imaginary, artistic beliefs and patterns.
The presence of the main character depicted on the newest AT THE GATES cover and artwork – Alcyoneus, the oldest hero among the giant warriors – is here as well. His bust was rebuilt for this video, but it got a new face. Now his mouth is closed and therefore, he is reduced to silence due to the new paradigms and the oppression’s influence in art. Yet, this character continues to defy the primitive human nature. The snake’s symbol and the eternal temptation offered by the bestial side of the self are also present here, and they work hand in hand with the new Alcyoneus’ image. The video goes fast through different moments in the history, including the perception of art and human nature, and it employs a heavy, almost funeral type of visual tone. This time I have also decided to base all my work on a pretty sharp type of image, as sharp as the blade of the daggers. Regarding imagery, there is darkness, heaviness, hate and anger, which accede to death, primordial co-habitation and they are all enshroud with an almost political type of solemnity. The revolutionary spirit emerges through the mere existence of this video per se. At some points, short scenes depicting nature come as an invitation to a philosophic reflection on the monumental character of the art required by politics. This is how I felt this song, its lyrics and all the explanations provided by Tomas for this particular tune.“
AT THE GATES previously revealed two other singles for the “To Drink From The Night Itself” album as follows:
“To Drink From The Night Itself” (video-clip)
“A Stare Bound In Stone” (video-clip)
“To Drink From The Night Itself” (making of video-clip)
Next to the standard jewelcase CD, the Digital Download and the LP version (Various options detailed below), “To Drink From The Night Itself”, which was produced with Russ Russell (Napalm Death, The Haunted, Dimmu Borgir, etc.) at Parlour Studios in the UK, will also be available in Europe as a limited edition Mediabook 2CD (with a bonus-disc of 5 additional tracks, expanded booklet and 3 stickers) and as strictly limited and numbered LP-Boxset.
The LP format comes as 180-gram vinyl in Gatefold packaging with 8-pages LP-booklet and an art-print in the following different versions, colors and limitations:
Black LP – Unlimited
Red LP via CM USA – 600x copies
Golden LP via Indie Stores USA – 300x copies
Smokey gray LP via CM US Onlineshop – 300x copies
Sea glass green LP via CM US Onlineshop – 300x copies
Clear LP via Bengans Sweden – 400x copies
Silver LP via CM EU Onlineshop – 200x copies
Picture LP via CM Distro EU – 500x copies
White LP via NBR – 300x copies
Blue LP via EMP – 300x copies
The album’s LP-Boxset is strictly limited to 2000 numbered copies and will include a special triple Gatefold LP version of the album with alternate cover artwork, LP-booklet, 4 art-prints, a bonus LP with the 5 additional album bonus tracks and etching on B-side, a large poster, a large patch, a metal-pin, a hand-signed card, a set of 3 stickers as well as the album’s CD and bonus-disc in plastic sleeves.
AT THE GATES – “To Drink From The Night Itself“ TRACK LISTING
1. Der Widerstand
2. To Drink From The Night Itself
3. A Stare Bound In Stone
4. Palace Of Lepers
5. Daggers Of Black Haze
6. The Chasm
7. In Nameless Sleep
8. The Colours Of The Beast
9. A Labyrinth Of Tombs
10. Seas Of Starvation
11. In Death They Shall Burn
12. The Mirror Black
The previously mentioned additional tracks on the 2CD and LP-Boxset editions of the album include alternate versions of album-songs featuring appearances by the following guest vocalists: Rob Miller (Amebix, Tau Cross), Per Boder (God Macabre) and Mikael Nox Pettersson (Craft). The exact track-listing reads as follows.
1. Daggers Of Black Haze (feat. Rob Miller)
2. The Chasm (feat. Per Boder)
3. A Labyrinth Of Tombs (feat. Mikael Nox Pettersson)
4. The Chasm (demo version)
5. The Mirror Black (feat. Rob Miller)
Pre-order “To Drink From The Night Itself” in its various formats HERE.
