Slaughter of the Soul

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.^[1] 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 couldn't play it properly.^[2]

"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.^[3]
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

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	^[4]
AllMusic	^[5]
Rock Hard	7/10^[6]
Sputnikmusic	4.0/5^[7]

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."^[5]

Public reception

Slaughter of the Soul was very well received by the public. On Rate Your Music the album has an average rating of 3.75 of 5, based on more than 3,400 ratings,^[8] and on Sputnikmusic the album has an "excellent" average rating of 4.2 of 5, based on more than 1,650 ratings.^[9]

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.^[10] Metal Injection ranked Slaughter of the Soul No. 8 on their list "Top 10 Influential Heavy Metal Albums."^[11]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Lindberg; all music composed by Björler, Björler, except where noted.

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"Blinded by Fear"		3:12
2.	"Slaughter of the Soul"		3:02
3.	"Cold"		3:27
4.	"Under a Serpent Sun"		3:58
5.	"Into the Dead Sky" (instrumental)	Björler	2:12
6.	"Suicide Nation"		3:35
7.	"World of Lies"	Björler, Björler, Larsson	3:35
8.	"Unto Others"		3:11
9.	"Nausea"		2:23
10.	"Need"		2:36
11.	"The Flames of the End"	Björler, Johansson, Lindberg	2:57
Total length:			34:08

2002 Reissue bonus tracks
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"Legion" (Slaughter Lord cover)		3:54
13.	"The Dying" (Unreleased track from Slaughter of the Soul sessions)		3:18
14.	"Captor of Sin" (Slayer cover)	Hanneman, King	3:19
15.	"Unto Others" ('95 Demo)		3:06
16.	"Suicide Nation" ('95 Demo)		3:22
17.	"Bister Verklighet" (No Security cover)		1:55

2006 reissue bonus DVD
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Making of Slaughter of the Soul"
2.	"Deleted Scenes"
3.	"Blinded by Fear" (music video)

2008 reissue bonus DVD
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Terminal Spirit Disease" (live in Kraków, Poland)
2.	"Cold" (live in Kraków, Poland)
3.	"The Swarm" (live in Kraków, Poland)
4.	"Blinded by Fear" (live in Kraków, Poland)
5.	"Nausea" (live in Kraków, Poland)
6.	"Forever Blind" (live in Kraków, Poland)
7.	"Need" (live in Kraków, Poland)
8.	"Kingdom Gone" (live in Kraków, Poland)
9.	"Making of Slaughter of the Soul"
10.	"Deleted Scenes"
11.	"Blinded by Fear" (music video)

Credits

Writing, performance and production credits are adapted from the album liner notes.^[12]

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

Chart	Peak position
Japanese Albums (Oricon)^[13]	200

References

↑ "Melodic Death Metal". About.com. 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
↑ Morgan, Anthony. ""The Flames of the End"? - Guitarist Anders Björler wishes to pen the final chapter in the glorious history of Swedish legends At The Gates". Lucem Fero. Retrieved 1 June 2013. External link in |work= (help)
↑ "'Blinded By Fear' - At the Gates // Rock Band". Rockband.com. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
↑ "At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul Review". About.com. 2011-09-14. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
1 2 Huey, Steve. Slaughter of the Soul - At the Gates at AllMusic
↑ Wendel, Kai. "REVIEWALBUM". Rock Hard (in German) (RH #101). Retrieved 20 May 2013.
↑ Bartender (January 16, 2005). "At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul (album review 6)". www.sputnikmusic.com. Sputnikmusic. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
↑ "Slaughter of the Soul by At the Gates (Album, Melodic Death Metal)". rateyourmusic.com. Sonemic. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
↑ "At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul User Opinions". www.sputnikmusic.com. Sputnikmusic. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
↑ [...], Rock Hard (Hrsg.). [Red.: Michael Rensen. Mitarb.: Götz Kühnemund] (2005). Best of Rock & Metal die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten. Königswinter: Heel. p. 92. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
↑ Staff writer(s) (March 6, 2013). "8. AT THE GATES Slaughter of the Soul - Top 10 Influential Heavy Metal Albums". www.metalinjection.net. Metal Injection. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
↑ Slaughter of the Soul (Reissue) (liner notes). At the Gates. Earache Records. 2008.
↑ "スローター・オブ・ザ・ソウル - アット・ザ・ゲイツ". Retrieved October 18, 2015.

External links

Slaughter of the Soul at AllMusic
Slaughter of the Soul at At the Gates's official website
Slaughter of the Soul at Earache Records

At the Gates

Tomas Lindberg Anders Björler Jonas Björler Martin Larsson Adrian Erlandsson Alf Svensson Tony Andersson

Studio albums	The Red in the Sky Is Ours (1992) With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness (1993) Terminal Spirit Disease (1994) Slaughter of the Soul (1995) At War with Reality (2014)

EPs/split releases	Gardens of Grief (1991) Cursed to Tour (1996)

Other releases	Suicidal Final Art (2001) Purgatory Unleashed – Live at Wacken (2008) The Flames of the End (2010)

Related articles	Cradle of Filth The Crown Disfear The Great Deceiver Grotesque The Haunted Lock Up Nightrage Skitsystem

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