It was the 21st of September 2008, when At The Gates gave us an amazing show for the first time in Greece. Earlier that year they had announced that the reunion would be only for some shows and then they would take their separate ways.
Hopefully they came back for more. Not only for touring, but after many years they released an amazing album called “At War With Reality”, reminding us how much we needed them, how much we missed them.
The time had come for the opening act of the night and Endsight from Athens begun playing with about 100 fans below them. Although they are young, they are a very experienced band with many live shows on their resume. Excellent Melodic Death/Metalcore from the guys, full of energy and chemistry among the members of this band. They played mostly songs from their very good latest album “A Vicious Circle”. They didn’t forget to dedicate the songs “Wrong Sense Of Power” to our police and politicians and “For Those Who Face The Fear” to all of us and the problems that we face every day. The fans from times to times tried to keep up with them with the noble act of moshing, but in general their reactions weren’t the best. At last, they earned a warm applause and left the stage after a very energetic set.
Setlist: Modern Ruins/Existence/Wrong Sense Of Power/The Dive/The Final Sunlight/Circles Of Inferno/For Those Who Face The Fear/House Of Violence
Next in line, Cerebrum and their Progressive Death Metal. Very well played from the Athenians with nice melodies, very good technique from their guitar and bass players but the audience was not very excited. Highlight of their show was the singer. Excellent growls, he was running all the time around the stage when the other members of the band were motionless. He was clearly very excited and was living the night in his own way. In the end, they won the applause from the audience and left the stage because the time of At The Gates was about to come.
The venue was almost full, the lights went out and the intro of their latest album introduced the band to the stage. Tomas Lindberg, Anders Bjorler, Jonas Bjorler, Martin Larsson and Adrian Erlandsson were in front of us and chaos broke free! “Death And The Labyrinth”, “Slaughter Of The Soul”, “Cold” and “At War With Reality” was only the beginning. Amazing performance by the Swedish gods. Tomas Lindberg is an excellent performer who influenced so many screamers with his growls. Everyone was excellent, and all songs were fantastic. It didn’t matter if they were old or new. It didn’t matter if it was “Heroes And Tombs” or “Under A Serpent Sun” or “Raped By The Light Of Christ”. The audience went crazy on every one of them and the band was constantly on fire. Time went by so fast that we didn’t realize that the show was coming to an end. Few minutes of intermission before the encore, and “Blinded By Fear” was the first one followed by “Kingdom Gone”. At that point, Tomas mentioned how special and unforgettable their first show in Athens was in 2008, because it was supposed to be their last. The night was over, the Swedish gods reminded us all how much they were missed all these year, they gave us an excellent show and we just can’t wait until the next time that we will see them again. Because they are back, thankfully, for good this time…
…we are blind to the world within us, waiting to be born…
Setlist: El Altar Del Dios Desconocido (Intro)/Death And The Labyrinth/Slaughter Of The Soul/Cold/At War With Reality/Terminal Spirit Disease/Raped By The Light Of Christ/The Circular Ruins/Under A Serpent Sun/Windows/City Of Mirrors (Intermission)/Suicide Nation/Heroes And Tombs/Nausea/World Of Lies/The Burning Darkness/The Book Of Sand (The Abomination)Encore: Blinded By Fear/Kingdom Gone/The Night Eternal
George Terzakis
