Sweet Disease

An excellent bop-based guitarist with a slight country twang to his sound, Herb Ellis became famous playing with the Oscar Peterson Trio during 1953-1958. Prior to that, he had attended North Texas State University and played with the Casa Loma Orchestra, Jimmy Dorsey (1945-1947), and the sadly under-recorded trio Soft Winds. While with Peterson, Ellis was on some Jazz at the Philharmonic tours and had a few opportunities to lead his own dates for Verve, including his personal favorite, Nothing But the Blues (1957). After leaving Peterson, Ellis toured a bit with Ella Fitzgerald; became a studio musician on the West Coast; made sessions with the Dukes of Dixieland, Stuff Smith, and Charlie Byrd; and in the 1970s became much more active in the jazz world…

With their third album, 1994's highly accomplished Terminal Spirit Disease, Sweden's 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. Right from the get-go, highlights like "The Swarm," "Forever Blind," and the title track venture into melodic territory like never before. Yet they never waver from the band's predetermined path of virulent aggression, and, best of all, keep it all short and sweet for maximum effect. And with extreme (or nonextreme, as it were) experiments like the all-acoustic and cello-laced "And the World Returned," At the Gates showed a willingness to diversify that would soon prove their mettle…