At The Gates "Terminal Spirit Disease"

Terminal Spirit Disease is the third album by Swedish melodic death metal band At the Gates. It was released in 1994 and re-released in 2003 with bonus tracks. 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.

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".

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

Track listing

All tracks are written by Tomas Lindberg, Anders Björler and Jonas Björler, except for where noted.

1. "The Swarm" 3:28
2. "Terminal Spirit Disease" 3:38
3. "And the World Returned" (Anders Björler) 3:06
4. "Forever Blind" 3:58
5. "The Fevered Circle" (Lindberg, Anders Björler, Martin Larsson, Alf Svensson) 4:11
6. "The Beautiful Wound" 3:52
7. "All Life Ends" (At the Gates, Svensson) (Live) 5:16
8. "The Burning Darkness" (Lindberg, Anders Björler, Svensson) (Live) 2:15
9. "Kingdom Gone" (Lindberg, Anders Björler) (Live) 5:02

Total length: 34:46

Digipak reissue released in 2003 includes 3 additional live tracks from 1993 live-in-studio session for MTV Europe:

1. "Windows"  
2. "The Red in the Sky Is Ours/The Season to Come"  
3. "The Burning Darkness"

Recording information:

Track 1-6: recorded in Studio Fredman, February 1994.

Tracks 7-9: recorded live at Magasinet, Gothenburg, on February 6, 1994.