At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul review
| Band: | At The Gates |
| Album: | Slaughter Of The Soul |
| Style: | Gothenburg metal |
| Release date: | November 1995 |
Disc I [CD]
01. Blinded By Fear
02. Slaughter Of The Soul
03. Cold
04. Under A Serpent Sun
05. Into The Dead Sky
06. Suicide Nation
07. World Of Lies
08. Unto Others
09. Nausea
10. Need
11. The Flames Of The End
12. Legion [Slaughter Lord cover] [2002 re-issue bonus]
13. The Dying [2002 re-issue bonus]
14. Captor Of Sin [Slayer cover] [2002 re-issue bonus]
15. Unto Others ['95 demo] [2002 re-issue bonus]
16. Suicide Nation ['95 demo] [2002 re-issue bonus]
17. Bister Verklighet [No Security cover] [2002 re-issue bonus]
Disc II [2006 re-issue DVD]
+ Making Of "Slaughter Of The Soul"
+ Documentary
+ Blinded By Fear [video]
This album has no review 12 years after its release?! Well, I cannot just let that be, can I? I mean, kids have to learn what a milestone this is in the history of death metal... Others already know what I'm talking about!
OK, first of all, this is one of the "Big Three" of the year 1995 (other 2 being In Flames' "The Jester Race" and Dark Tranquillity's "The Gallery"), which are easily the best melodeath albums ever and influence all of the new genres that many hail today. This album is a logical (although not predictable) step from At The Gates' previous album "Terminal Spirit Disease," when they first incorporated the new, more melodic approach into their music. Here, the sound was developed and polished to the max, yet without losing the aggressive edge they always had and you could say that it's a perfect balance. The consequence of all this is increased accessibility to their generally extreme music. From the legendary opener "Blinded By Fear" (which was the most popular and played video on MTV's Headbanger's Ball ever) to the strange neo-classical instrumental "The Flames Of The End," this is a true masterpiece - full stop. It would be rather pointless to describe or recommend specific songs, since the entire album flows really nice and the quality bar never drops. This may cause the album to sound slightly repetitive at first listen but only until you get to know the songs a little better; then it won't get out of your CD player (or iPod) for weeks, if not months. You'll feel shivers each time you play "Blinded By Fear," headbang with "Nausea" and jump with "Need" (hell, I just made recommendations)... And as if it wasn't enough, the album was reissued with bonus tracks (including unreleased and demo tracks and some covers, e.g. Slayer's "Captor Of Sin" which is fantastic) and even a 35-minute video with the singer Tomas Lindberg, guitarist Martin Larsson and the producer Fredrik Nordstrom.
Just in case you still have doubts - rush to the nearest CD shop (or go to Earache online shop, like my lazy ass) and get the new DualDisc Reissue. That way you can get rid of the shame that you still don't have this one in your collection and join the fan club!
Comments
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Comments: 39
Visited by: 338 users
| Katatronik Angel of Lust Posts: 1018 From: Italy  |
The definitive Melodic Death album, without any doubt!  A lot of new bands try to make an album like this, but they only copy it... Great review man! 
---- "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." Howard Phillips Lovecraft
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| gojko88 Posts: 19 From: Serbia  |
Written by Katatronik on 20.01.2007 at 15:22 I would rather say that they MAKE albums like this one but only TRY TO COPY it  A fine epitaph for a defunct legend.
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| Sunioj Posts: 3894 From: Finland  |
I like this album alot, but personally 9.8 is a bit high, I would give it a 8.0 right now, but during its context and its definition its a definite 10. @Cradle of Bodom, It defined the gothenburg direction IMO, Melodic DM was years earlier defined.
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| Katatronik Angel of Lust Posts: 1018 From: Italy |
Written by Sunioj on 21.01.2007 at 17:23 I agree with you, this album is Gothenburg... but gothenburg is similar to melodeath in my opinion (I think it melodeath as a larger style which contains gothenburg)
---- "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." Howard Phillips Lovecraft
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| Sunioj Posts: 3894 From: Finland |
I see Gothenburg also very close to Melodeath too, I hate that term though.
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| -MeTaLlIc-OwL- Account deleted |
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| Sunioj Posts: 3894 From: Finland |
Written by Guest on 23.01.2007 at 03:48 Whats so death metal about this album? And this album IS alittle more melodic then At the gates first few. So why doesnt the term Gothenburg apply to this?
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| -MeTaLlIc-OwL- Account deleted |
-MeTaLlIc-OwL-
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It's still Death Metal, even if its "so melodic"  you can use the term yes, but it doesnt take out the DM from the album. 
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| Stalker Lone wanderer Posts: 2705 From: Serbia  |
Good review for a great album. Short one, but still good...
---- 
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| In_tallica Posts: 151 From: Sweden  |
One hell of a review, One hell of an album and one HELL OF A YEAR!! i actually hadn't realised that the gallery, the jester race AND this album came the sam year! Man i wish i was 5 years old again! 
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| In_tallica Posts: 151 From: Sweden |
anyway, what's the diference between gothenburg and melodic death metal anyway?
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| Desecrator Posts: 25 From: Australia  |
Written by Guest on 04.11.2007 at 19:54 What are you getting at? I doubt anyone actually reads that and thinks it's funny, i'm sure people would view you as some kind of moron.......anyway, this is an excellent album, and that review certainly depicted that.
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| Opium Account deleted |
Opium
Account deleted Written by Desecrator on 23.12.2007 at 06:22 Mad Laughter was banned, for being a moron, incidentally (Check his profile)I still love this album, no matter how basic the sound structures might be
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| Stille Haer Posts: 4 From: Costa Rica |
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 40071 From: The Netherlands  |
Written by Stille Haer on 17.01.2008 at 03:54 ahum  what I see is a 9.8 here (which IMO is waaaayyyyy to high)
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| totaliteraliter Posts: 656 From: Canada  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 17.01.2008 at 04:17 Agreed, I'd probably give it something around a 2. If you take The Red in the Sky Is Ours, castrate it and give it a lobotomy you get Slaughter of the Soul. To be fair I do recall a moment or two of near-listenability on "Unto Others", but otherwise it's so painfully obvious, predictable and downright tedious. Once you've heard the first thirty seconds there really isn't much reason to continue. I mean it isn't even ballsy enough to be good for some drunk headbanging at a party, and it lacks the aggressive fun of, say, Pantera or Lamb Of God. I guess it might be a decent gateway album in theory, wasn't for me personally.
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| Dangerboner Lactation Cnslt Posts: 7261 From: USA  |
^^^ A 2? Goddamn, everyone either severely overrates or underrates this album. I love it btw, along with their older stuff.
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| Opium Account deleted |
Opium
Account deleted Written by totaliteraliter on 17.01.2008 at 06:00 It's all totally subjective here. Pantera put me to sleep (literally) after trying to listen to Cowboys From Hell, whereas I can listen to Slaughter of the Soul and actually enjoy it. Although if it's aggressive fun you're after, try Exhorder, the band Pantera copied their template from Furthermore, my ears needed to be adjusted to at least tolerate the vocals at first, then they grew on me (again, everyone's different, this is just how it worked for me). Not exactly what I'd outright claim to be an accessible album, despite being simplistic 
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| totaliteraliter Posts: 656 From: Canada |
Written by Guest on 17.01.2008 at 06:18 I am familiar with the works of Exhorder. I should note that I personally find Pantera to be quite a shit band, I only mention them and Lamb Of God because I was seeking to compare Slaughter Of The Soul with material on a similar artistic level. And while Pantera is at least fun when you're drunk, SotS lacks even this redeeming quality.
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| Opium Account deleted |
Opium
Account deleted Written by totaliteraliter on 17.01.2008 at 06:28 Ah, I see. I'd still say At The Gates and Pantera are on slightly different plateaus, but close enough, I suppose, with regards to artistic levels. Slayer might be a more appropriate comparison, since they were an influence on At The Gate's music, while maintaining very similar structures to them. P.S. Pantera just isn't fun for me at all
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| totaliteraliter Posts: 656 From: Canada |
Written by Guest on 17.01.2008 at 06:37 Um, if we're talking about Christ Agony or God Hates Us All I might agree.  Definitely it falls somewhat below South of Heaven-Seasons In The Abyss era, and isn't in the same galaxy as their earlier works. And we should certainly be talking about more than structures, although I'll tell you right now I'm not enthusiastic about the prospect of studying SotS enough to engage in a more in-depth analysis.
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| Aebsi Posts: 71 From: Norway  |
Man, I guess that's how metal (any genre any band) works, you either love it or hate it nothing in between, and that exactly seems to be case with Slaughter of the Soul, you either like or dislike it. When I listened to this album for the first time I absolutely loved it, now I feel like it's a bit overrated album, but don't get me wrong I still love it. About that this album defined "gothenburg" metal, I don't agree with that this album alone defined this genre but was one of others, In Flames and Dark Tranquillity had their own influence on this sub-genre to melodic death to be born. I think those 3 combined forces made people feel like they needed to label them more exact, if one agrees or disagrees with this sub-genres name is a topic of its own, for me gothenburg says nothing (before you know the music behind it) Death Metal is almost spot on, Black Metal to, Power, British New Wave, Industrial.....and so on, most of them seem to be spot on....and then you get gothenburg.....but as i said it's a topic of its own. At The Gates is and always will be one of my favorites
---- Just be Yourself
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| Deadmeat Necrobutcher Posts: 2437 From: Greece  |
This album is great but I'd give it a 9. The only reason is that there are 3-4 songs which make me feel that they are the same thing. I feel that album lacks a bit in variety.
---- Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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| Metalbound7 Posts: 229 From: Mexico  |
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