Title: Slaughter of the Soul Artist: At the Gates Label: Earache Release Date: 1995 Rating: 3 Skulls
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Reviewed by Solomon:
Since the staff at Metal Maniacs recently named this disc as the number one platter for the 90's, I figure this is a good subject for "classic" review. True, At The Gates are considered among the forefathers of the "melodic" brand of death metal coming out of Scandinavia. I'm not too much of a death metal fan, but this kind of stuff is more appealing to my ear. Musically, Slaughter is a busy record. The punchy single-note guitar lines help propel the rhythms in an exciting way that mere power chords can't do. Unfortunately, the speedy down-tuned guitars and Kreator-ish vocals create a confusion in the mix and don't allow the individual parts to come through with as much definition. At The Gates are obviously great musicians, but they follow their blitzkrieg formula so closely that the songs tend to sound the same. Death metal vocals aren't my bag, baby, but at least they fit with the aggressive whirlwind of sound on Slaughter. "Into The Dead Sky" and "The Flames of the End" provide welcome changes in feel, but they seem out of place when compared with the rest of the record. Slaughter would have been more successful had there been more variation in feel and orchestration among the other tunes (although "Cold" has a pretty cool interlude). "World of Lies" is my favorite track with its driving, more traditional metal riff. In Flames is a much more accessible band when it comes to this style, but ATG still sounds more like a true death metal band.

It would have been interesting to see how this band developed had they not broken up prematurely.

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