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Description
Back in the nineties, there was a band from Gothenburg, Sweden called At The Gates, known for along with Dark Tranquillity and In Flames as the pioneers of melodic death metal. Groups like Soilwoek and Dethklok would probably have never come to be without early influences like theirs, and the later metalcore scene took heavy influence from them, to varying degrees of success: bands like Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, and All That Remains all wish they could be as awesome as At The Gates.

However, while Dark Tranquillity remained fairly consistent throughout their two-decade long career and In Flames (to my infinite chagrin) made constant abridgments to their style until they'd whittled themselves into an evolutionary dead end, the members of At The Gates went their separate ways to work on other projects not even a year after the release of their critically acclaimed, genre-defining 1995 release, Slaughter Of The Soul. It wasn't until 2007 that the quintet temporarily reformed for several reunion shows (and an impressive performance at Wacken Open Air), and in 2010 At The Gates official reformed. Four years down they line, At The Gates recorded and released At War With Reality, their first new album in nineteen years.

And it is fucking amazing. Listen:
'Death And The Labyrinth'
'At War With Reality'

So, as an aficionado of melodic death metal, when I heard that a band who helped sire that genre was going to be touring the west coast of the United States (something they hadn't done in seven years), I got psyched up enough to create a painting to mark said occasion... but also because I wanted to repeat the success I had accomplished with the paintings I made for those Sevendust and Lamb of God shows.

The concept behind this it's really an amalgamation of everything from At War With Reality. The record and lyrical booklet extensively feature work from surreal artist Costin Chioreanu, and as such there is at least one detail, minor or significant, in this painting for every single one of the special edition's fifteen tracks. As for the impetus behind the central focus of the piece, I wanted to work around the idea of conflict or war, as per the album title. I made a tangent connection between the track 'Head Of The Hydra' and the old song of Slaughter Of The Soul, 'Under A serpent Sun.' Then I though of the profile silhouettes carved out of the hands featured on the cover art acting in lieu of the holes from the nails driven through Jesus's hands during his crucifixion, and with the idea of man and God in a constant war made this image mentally appear almost instantaneously.

Technically speaking, this is definitely is one of my weaker pieces. Costin's style is very fickle, and this was my first stable at surrealism in years, so stumbling through a style I'm admittedly inexperienced in while also trying to replicate the signatures of another ended up leading to what I feel are inconsistent results. Extreme procrastination didn't help much either, as I started this hardly more than a week before the actual show, further resulting in an execution that can be sloppy in places. I hadn't even put my traditional signature on the canvas at the time this photograph was taken.

In the end, however, I still find myself admiring the final product. That I did still manage to complete this fairly large piece (20"x18") in such short time while still managing to saturate it with all the intricate details and symbolism that I did feels like an accomplishment in of itself.

But how did the band like it when I showed it to them during their performance?

Well, take a look at this and tell me what you think the thing on Adrian's bass drums look like to you.

PS: The silhouette on the moon and the seventh head of the hydra under the left arm are who you think they are.

The seventh track is called 'Order From Chaos,' and the final track is called 'The Night Eternal.'

I couldn't help myself.

Description
Back in the nineties, there was a band from Gothenburg, Sweden called At The Gates, known for along with Dark Tranquillity and In Flames as the pioneers of melodic death metal. Groups like Soilwoek and Dethklok would probably have never come to be without early influences like theirs, and the later metalcore scene took heavy influence from them, to varying degrees of success: bands like Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, and All That Remains all wish they could be as awesome as At The Gates.

However, while Dark Tranquillity remained fairly consistent throughout their two-decade long career and In Flames (to my infinite chagrin) made constant abridgments to their style until they'd whittled themselves into an evolutionary dead end, the members of At The Gates went their separate ways to work on other projects not even a year after the release of their critically acclaimed, genre-defining 1995 release, Slaughter Of The Soul. It wasn't until 2007 that the quintet temporarily reformed for several reunion shows (and an impressive performance at Wacken Open Air), and in 2010 At The Gates official reformed. Four years down they line, At The Gates recorded and released At War With Reality, their first new album in nineteen years.

And it is fucking amazing. Listen:
'Death And The Labyrinth'
'At War With Reality'

So, as an aficionado of melodic death metal, when I heard that a band who helped sire that genre was going to be touring the west coast of the United States (something they hadn't done in seven years), I got psyched up enough to create a painting to mark said occasion... but also because I wanted to repeat the success I had accomplished with the paintings I made for those Sevendust and Lamb of God shows.

The concept behind this it's really an amalgamation of everything from At War With Reality. The record and lyrical booklet extensively feature work from surreal artist Costin Chioreanu, and as such there is at least one detail, minor or significant, in this painting for every single one of the special edition's fifteen tracks. As for the impetus behind the central focus of the piece, I wanted to work around the idea of conflict or war, as per the album title. I made a tangent connection between the track 'Head Of The Hydra' and the old song of Slaughter Of The Soul, 'Under A serpent Sun.' Then I though of the profile silhouettes carved out of the hands featured on the cover art acting in lieu of the holes from the nails driven through Jesus's hands during his crucifixion, and with the idea of man and God in a constant war made this image mentally appear almost instantaneously.

Technically speaking, this is definitely is one of my weaker pieces. Costin's style is very fickle, and this was my first stable at surrealism in years, so stumbling through a style I'm admittedly inexperienced in while also trying to replicate the signatures of another ended up leading to what I feel are inconsistent results. Extreme procrastination didn't help much either, as I started this hardly more than a week before the actual show, further resulting in an execution that can be sloppy in places. I hadn't even put my traditional signature on the canvas at the time this photograph was taken.

In the end, however, I still find myself admiring the final product. That I did still manage to complete this fairly large piece (20"x18") in such short time while still managing to saturate it with all the intricate details and symbolism that I did feels like an accomplishment in of itself.

But how did the band like it when I showed it to them during their performance?

Well, take a look at this and tell me what you think the thing on Adrian's bass drums look like to you.

PS: The silhouette on the moon and the seventh head of the hydra under the left arm are who you think they are.

The seventh track is called 'Order From Chaos,' and the final track is called 'The Night Eternal.'

I couldn't help myself.