''Terminal Spirit Disease'' is the third album by Swedish

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

band

At the Gates At the Gates is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. The band was a major progenitor of Gothenburg-style melodic death metal alongside In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. Prior to their first disbandment in 1996, At ...

. It was released in 1994 (see

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) and re-released in 2003 with bonus tracks. It is the first album to feature rhythm guitarist Martin Larsson who replaced Alf Svensson in 1993. The band originally had wanted to record an EP of new material, but their label had insisted on a full-length album. To compromise, the band added several live tracks to pad the overall length.

Background information

Guitarist Anders Björler commented that he couldn't "remember much" from the recording sessions for ''Terminal Spirit Disease''. When compared to at the Gates' older material, Björler felt the tracks "were simpler and more to the point". A violin and cello are featured on the song "And the World Returned", cited as an example of the group's attempt to explore "ideas which were a little different".

Reception

Reviews for ''Terminal Spirit Disease'' have been mostly positive.

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's Eduardo Rivadavia awards the album four out of five stars, and claims that, with this album, "At the Gates raised their creative stakes beyond most everyone's original expectations, and proved that what had once been a pretty standard and uninventive death metal combo was slowly becoming a true contender in the scene." In a retrospective review, Richard Street-Jammer of ''

Invisible Oranges ''Invisible Oranges'' is an American online music magazine dedicated to heavy metal news, band interviews and album reviews. It was founded by Cosmo Lee in September 2006 shortly after emigrating from San Francisco, California, United States t ...

'' called the album "the last record before they became legends" and "a fetish for crummy

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." The album was inducted into ''

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'' "Hall of Fame" in March 2023.

Track listing

The

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reissue released in 2003 includes three additional live tracks from the 1993 live-in-studio session for

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Credits

Band members

Tomas Lindberg Tomas Lindberg (born 16 October 1972), also known as "Tompa" and "Goatspell", is a Swedish vocalist who has fronted many death metal bands, most notably At the Gates. He has been active as a musician and composer since the late 1980s. He also t ...

– vocals *

Anders Björler Anders Björler (born 26 February 1973) is a Swedish musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist in the metal bands The Haunted and At the Gates, alongside his bass-playing twin brother Jonas Björler. Björler has also directed, edite ...

– guitar *

Jonas Björler Jonas Fredrik Björler (born 26 February 1973) is a Swedish musician, currently the bassist of the melodic death metal band At the Gates and The Haunted. He was formerly in the bands Demolition, Infestation and Terror. Discography Demoli ...

– bass *

Adrian Erlandsson Adrian Paul Erlandsson (born 27 October 1970) is a Swedish Heavy metal music, heavy metal drummer who is a member of At the Gates (1990–present), The Haunted (Swedish band), The Haunted (1996–1999, 2013–present), and Nemhain (2006–pre ...

– drums * Martin Larsson – guitar

Guest members

*Peter Andersson – cello on "The Swarm" and "And the World Returned" *Ylva Wahlstedt – violin on "The Swarm" and "And the World Returned"