"The Nightmare of Being is At the Gates’ second album with bassist Jonas Björler as their primary songwriter, following the departure of his twin brother, Anders, in 2017. It was Anders who first pushed the band to write more approachable material back in 1993, and in his absence, At the Gates have started to sound more like those exuberant teenagers who put an extended violin solo on the first song on their debut album.  While 2014’s At War With Reality and 2018’s To Drink From the Night Itself tried to split the difference between these esoteric inclinations and their more streamlined sound, on The Nightmare of Being, their weirder side claims a decisive victory: It is their best, most diverse, and most provocative album since reuniting."

- Brad Sanders, Pitchfork