The Red in the Sky Is Ours

At the Gates grew out of Grotesque, which Tomas Lindberg had started with guitarist Alf Svensson in 1989. When it ended in 1990 the two formed a new group; the twins Anders and Jonas Björler joined soon after, and drummer Adrian Erlandsson completed the line-up after meeting Lindberg on a coach to a Morbid Angel show. After the 1991 Gardens of Grief EP brought a deal with Peaceville, they recorded this debut at ART Studios in Gothenburg in November 1991, about a year after forming. Hans Hall engineered and mixed it, and the band's site names him as producer; Decibel notes it was his only record with them. Session violinist Jesper Jarold plays on it. Svensson was the main songwriter, and some of his riffs came from playing old demo tapes backwards. In 2007 Anders Björler said some of Svensson's ideas went over the top, the album holding only a lighter version of them, and that the band had been too eager to impress, cramming in riffs. In 2026 Jonas Björler recalled that the brothers had been playing for only about two years, so remembering every part was the challenge. Decibel set them apart from their Stockholm peers for folding classical music, early black metal, progressive rock, folk and jazz into death metal and hardcore. The title track carries Lindberg's left-wing convictions and a call for revolution. Deaf Records released the album in 1992. Years later, Anders Björler recalled, someone at Peaceville told him it was still the label's most expensive recording and still sounded weird. The CD has ten tracks; the LP leaves off the closing "City of Screaming Statues", first heard on Gardens of Grief. "Kingdom Gone" was made into a video. It was paired with its successor on a 1995 double CD, and the 2003 reissue added two live recordings and a demo of "Ever-Opening Flower". Decibel made it No. 116 in its Hall of Fame in 2014, the band's second entry after Slaughter of the Soul, and in May 2026 Peaceville issued a CD remastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound Studios.