Tomas Lindberg's chants of "suicide!" around the two-minute mark of At The Gates' 1995 track "Suicide Nation" slowly creep up on the listener as they get louder and louder. In a recent Twitch stream looking back at the record, Lindberg reveals that producer Fredrik Nordstrom actually made him stand various distances away from the microphone to achieve the effect, rather than use a volume swell or anything in post-production.
"One detail I don't think anyone's shared yet is when Fredrik Nordstrom, Fredman, got me to—you know on 'Suicide Nation' when you hear 'suicide, suicide' getting stronger and stronger, the four times I repeat it? Nowadays I know I can just sing it once and then it can mechanically do it louder and louder. He actually made me stand very far back and walk slowly toward the mic singing it four times. I was 21… It's a few takes as well because I had to walk so I was at the—I think there was tape on the ground as well where I should be for the four different ones.
Lindberg also touches on the album's Slayer cover, saying it wasn't him who did the initial scream. "There's also the thing where on the bonus tracks, 'Captor of Sin,' the Slayer cover—you know on the Haunting the Chapel EP you can hear the count in is on the sticks and you hear an 'ahhhhhhhh' in the back? I mean, that's probably Tom Araya screaming from far away or something. I just couldn't do it. I tried to do it tight, so on the Slaughter of the Soul album that's actually Jonas [Bjorler] doing the scream because I was too focused on getting it tight and right. He was like, 'But that's not how it is, it should be uncontrolled screaming in the background.' I was like, 'Yeah, you do it then.' And he did!"
At The Gates recently split with guitarist Jonas Stålhammar. No other information is available about the reason for the split other than the following statement from the band: "At The Gates have chosen to part ways with guitar player Jonas Stålhammar. We are currently working to find a replacement for the upcoming shows."
At The Gates will hit the road to celebrate their Slaughter Of The Soul record starting tomorrow. All dates will be opened by Municipal Waste, while special guests Enforced and Thrown Into Exile will join the duo on select dates. Get the dates below.
8/17 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre (w/ Thrown Into Exile) [Tickets]
8/18 Pomona, CA Glasshouse (w/ Thrown Into Exile) [Tickets]
8/19 Berkeley, CA Uc Theatre (w/ Thrown Into Exile) [Tickets]
8/20 Las Vegas, NV Psycho Vegas [Tickets]
8/22 Denver, CO Gothic (w/ Enforced) [Tickets]
8/23 Lawrence, KS Granada (w/ Enforced) [Tickets]
8/24 Chicago, IL Concord (w/ Enforced) [Tickets]
8/25 Toronto, ON Danforth Music Hall (w/ Enforced) [Tickets]
8/26 Montreal, QC Corona (w/ Enforced) [Tickets]
8/28 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer (w/ Enforced) [Tickets]
8/29 Silver Spring, MD Fillmore (w/ Enforced) [Tickets]
8/30 New York, NY Irving Plaza (w/ Enforced) [Tickets]
