At The Gates vocalist Toams Lindberg says the band fostered an attitude of “kill your darlings” while writing upcoming album At War With Reality.
And he believes doing the work in secret gave them greater scope to create the best material in their career.
The record will be launched on October 27 via Century Media, and comes after the band insisted they wouldn’t release new music following their 2007 reunion.
Lindberg tells Horns Up Rocks: “We didn’t announce we were doing a record until we had all the material. We wrote in secrecy, so we weren’t stressed about what other people might think or how they’d react.
“We had an idea that we should try anything that comes into our heads – but also that anything could be thrown away. So it was a lot of ‘kill your darlings.’ Everybody had to agree about everything that was recorded.”
He accepts their chosen way of working took a lot more time than previous albums. “It went through a thousand different filters before we said we were finished. But if you have a positive, creative vibe, where everyone is willing to sacrifice their favourite parts to make the best compromise, you will come up with a great album.
“That’s where the maturity comes in – back in our early 20s it was your way or the highway. Now it’s more important for me that everybody else is happy than I’m happy.”
At The Gates return to the UK in December:
Dec 04: London Forum
Dec 05: Manchester Academy 2
Dec 06: Glasgow Garage
Dec 07: Birmingham Academy
Dec 08: Cardiff Solus
