At the Gates at The Fillmore in Silver Spring, MD – August 29, 2022

Yet again, The Entertainment Outlet was fortunate enough to cover another epic tour postponed by 2020. This time, it was the Slaughter of the Soul tour, headlined by the Swedish melodic death metal band, At the Gates. The tour celebrated the 27th anniversary of Slaughter of the Soul, their fourth album. Every night they played the album from cover to cover, as well as some other popular tracks, for a total of nineteen songs. We were in for a long Monday night.

Enforced

The first band of the night was Enforced from Richmond, VA. Though I quite frankly couldn’t understand a word their front man screamed, it got the crowd going as any band should. It was certainly the correct way to kick off a night filled with death metal, from the shrill of the guitar, to the heavy hitters of the bass and drums, even to the guttural screaming. They were a solid opener and for any death metal fan, if Enforced shows up in a venue local to you, go see them.

Municipal Waste

Up next was Municipal Waste, coming in hot with a nineteen song setlist, the same number of songs the main event would play. With an impressive backdrop getting the fans rowdy, Municipal Waste picked up the energy left behind by Enforced. The crowd knew their words by heart, and cheered loudly at the announcement of one of Municipal Waste’s hits, “You’re Cut Off.” By this point, the venue began to fill up, a strong swarm for a Monday night.

At the Gates

As for At the Gates, they stayed true to their word, playing all of the tracks from their 1995 album Slaughter of the Soul. I think a few times, the die-hard fans drowned out front man Tomas Lindberg’s voice, especially when he encouraged them to scream/shout the lyrics back to him and his band mates. I was highly impressed not only by the band’s performance, but also the fans’ dedication, pressing themselves tight against the barricade. Thankfully for us photographers and the security team, they weren’t rowdy enough to begin crowd surfing.

Sadly, the tour is over, however, if you’re seeing this overseas or if you’re dying to see At the Gates (or Municipal Waste or Enforced), I highly recommend you be on the lookout for any future tour dates. At the Gates has a European tour coming up soon, but as for more tour announcements, just keep a sharp eye out. They’ll come to you soon enough.