Suicide Nation

''Slaughter of the Soul'' is the fourth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band At the Gates, released on November 14, 1995. It was their last album before their eleven-year breakup from 1996 to 2007. ''Slaughter of the Soul'' is considered a landmark in melodic death metal and played a major role in popularizing the Gothenburg scene, alongside '' The Jester Race'' by In Flames and '' The Gallery'' by Dark Tranquillity. The album was recorded and mixed in Studio Fredman, early 1995.

Andy LaRocque's neo-classical guest solo on "Cold" was widely acclaimed as one of the greatest metal solos and guitarist Anders Björler admitted in 2007 that he still could not play it properly.

"Blinded by Fear" was covered by The Haunted (composed largely of ex-At the Gates members) on their Japanese version of their live/double disc album, ''Live Rounds in Tokyo'' and was also covered by Fleshgod Apocalypse on their ''Mafia'' EP. The song also appeared in the game '' Rock Band 2'' as downloadable content.

Musical appearances

Tracks from the album have made appearances in several video games.

* "Blinded by Fear" was made available as downloadable content for the ''Rock Band'' video game series on March 28, 2008. Later, it was included in the game's retail " Metal Track Pack" add-on content disc, released on September 22, 2009 in North America. The song is considered one of the most difficult songs in the series to perform on drums, due to its fast tempo.
* The title track is featured in both '' Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned'' and '' Tony Hawk's Proving Ground''.

Reissues

A 2002 Reissue contained 11 tracks from the original 1995 release of ''Slaughter of the Soul'', plus 6 bonus audio tracks. Three of the bonus tracks were cover songs, two were demo tracks, and 1 was a previously unreleased track, recorded during the ''Slaughter of the Soul'' sessions. The 2006 reissue contained everything from the 2002 reissue, but also included an additional bonus DVD, which featured a 35-minute behind-the-scenes documentary as the highlight. The 2008 reissue contains everything from the 2002 and 2006 rereleases (all audio and DVD material), as well as additional DVD footage—an eight-song live set, recorded in Kraków, Poland on December 30, 1995.

Reception

Critical reception

Reviews for ''Slaughter of the Soul'' have been mostly positive. AllMusic's Steve Huey awarded the album five stars and called it an "excellent example of Gothenburg-style melodic death metal, and certainly the band's best and most focused album to date."

''Rock Hard'', however, thinks the band has become interchangeable with its many clones, and Deathmetal.org labels it At the Gates' sellout album, sounding like "Metallica attempting '' ...And Justice For All'' in a stylistic mashup between Iron Maiden and Judas Priest during '' Painkiller.''"

Accolades

In 2005, the album was ranked number 300 in ''Rock Hard'' magazine's book of ''The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time''. Metal Injection ranked ''Slaughter of the Soul'' eighth on their list "Top 10 Influential Heavy Metal Albums". The album was inducted into the Decibel Magazine Hall of Fame in March 2005, being the second album overall to receive such award.
In 2017, '' Rolling Stone'' ranked ''Slaughter of the Soul'' as 79th on their list of "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time".

Track listing

Credits

Writing, performance and production credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.

Personnel

At the Gates

* Tomas Lindberg − vocals
* Anders Björler − guitar, phaser drums on "Into the Dead Sky"
* Martin Larsson − guitar
* Jonas Björler − bass
* Adrian Erlandsson − drums

Guest musicians

* Andy LaRocque − guitar solo on "Cold"

Production

* Fredrik Nordström − production
* At the Gates – co-production
* Noel Summerville − mastering

Artwork and design

* Kristian Wåhlin − artwork, logo
* Absolute Design Associates – additional artwork and layout
* Frequent Form – logo concept

Studios

* Studio Fredman, Gothenburg, Sweden – recording, mixing
* Transfermation – mastering

Charts

References

External links

*

''Slaughter of the Soul''
at At the Gates's official website

''Slaughter of the Soul''
at Earache Records

{{Authority control

1995 albums
Albums recorded at Studio Fredman
Albums with cover art by Kristian Wåhlin
At the Gates albums
Earache Records albums
Albums produced by Fredrik Nordström