Slaughter of the Soul-25 Years Later

Every band or artist who releases a masterpiece never goes into the studio knowing that all their hard work is about to change the face of music forever. At the Gates, a band of young metal fans from Gothenburg, did just that with Slaughter of the Soul in 1995. They, along with other bands like In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, and the album Heartwork by Carcass, propelled the genre of melodic death metal into the limelight. At the Gates did things differently however. Unlike the other bands mentioned, who all in one way or another changed their sound, (In Flames did a 180 after the release of Reroute to Remain and have become a shadow of their former selves. DT focused more on aggression and less clean vocals as seen on the excellent Fiction. Then, shifted to a more atmospheric based sound with albums like Atoma. Carcass flopped with Swan Song in 1996, eventually regaining steam 17 years later with Surgical Steel), At the Gates evolved with the release of Slaughter of the Soul and continue to put out some of the best melodic death metal today. This album is the blueprint for making excellent melodic death metal and aided in influencing the huge wave of metalcore bands in the early 2000s. It provided extreme metal with a revitalizing shot of adrenaline during a time when metal was becoming stagnant. Laden with groove and excellent musicianship, it is an album that is an absolute must-listen; one that will be listened to and talked about for generations. 

At the Gates did not begin their career with the sound present on Slaughter. Formed in 1990 in Gothenburg, Sweden, a city that became the moniker of the genre they would soon perfect. After dropping a demo titled "Gardens of Grief" in 1991, the band released The Red in the Sky is Ours the following year. A straight forward, no fuss death metal album. Their sophomore effort, With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness, the band continued down the same path set by their debut. On 1994's Terminal Spirit Disease, At the Gates showed inklings of things to come the following year. The production is noticeably better than their previous efforts. The guitar work from Ander Bjorler and Martin Larsson is punchier and more melodic. Tomas Lindberg's vocals are gruff but actually audible in the mix. The rythmn section, Jonas Bjorler on bass and Adrian Erlandsson on drums, are tight and groovy. "Forever Blind" showcases the band's new sound perfectly. The album does suffer from copycat syndrome in some tracks. The instrumental "And the World Returned" sounds like a thrown out acoustic passage from an early In Flames record. Terminal Spirit Disease is also very short with the six "real" tracks only clocking in around 23 minutes with 3 live tracks placed at the end of the album. With the foundation laid by Terminal, At the Gates entered the studio during the summer of '95 and released Slaughter of the Soul on November 14, 1995 via Earache Records.

The industrial intro of "Blinded by Fear" begins the album. The sound of broken electronics and ripping metal masks the compressed vocals stating "We are blind to the worlds within us. Waiting to be born." The band immediately slam into a fast and pummeling melodic riff. Tomas' vocals are rough yet clear. The lyrics, unlike the typical death metal lyrics of blood and guts, reflect on reality and one's perception of it. The lyrics on the album as a whole take a grim look at reality. 

"I cast aside my chains

Fall from reality 

Purgatory unleashed

Now burn the face of the earth."

The guitar tone is open and bass heavy. According to producer Fredrik Nordstrom, the band used a old Peavey Bandit head with the infamous Boss MT-2 Metal Zone to create the guitar tone. Martin's drumming is crazy as well. Nordstrom stated in a interview that Martin developed his own technique to bearably to hit the snare and cymbals as quickly as possible. "Blinded by Fear" also features a slower section right before the solo. The rhythm guitar plays simple power chords and the lead is clean, playing arpeggiated  chords. 

The end of "Blinded" leads right into the title track featuring the famous "Go!" shout right before the main riff kicks in. At the Gates and Nordstrom stated that they added the "Go!" at the last minute and to give the song a more hardcore feel. The guitars are at their best here. The riffs are melodic and show Anders Björler and Martin Larsson's love of creating a groove. The chorus riff backs Lindberg shouting "There won't be another dawn. We will reap as we have sown." A force to be reckoned with, the title track more than likely the one song outside listeners heard from At the Gates. "Cold" continues the uphill climb established by the first two tracks. The lyrics are still desolate with lines like "I feel my soul grow cold. Only the dead are smiling." Andy LaRacque, King Diamond guitarist and friend of Nordstrom, plays a guest solo on this track. "Under a Serpent Sun" is the best showcase of At the Gates' transition in a melodic death metal powerhouse. The intro, triplet riff leads into the verse riff that mimics the melodic grooves seen in the past three tracks. Clean section that pops in near the end the song provides with album with a nice change of pace. However, this respite doesn't last as they launch into a furious section that leads into a repeat of the intro.

"Sweetfleshed, hellbent creature

Artist of the fevered soul

Heavenly, venomous rapture

Stricken numb by fear I fall"  

Following the classical guitar laden instrumental track "Into the Dead Sky," the second half of the album features shorter, more thrash orientated songs. Both "Suicide Nation" with it's low B string chugging and across the fretboard riffage and "World of Lies" are groovy through and through with a tinge of thrash thrown in for good measure. "Nausea" and "Unto Others" harken back to the days of quality 80's thrash metal, keeping the groove but flying by at a blistering pace. "Need" caps off the album nicely by combining the styles of both halves of the album. The melody seen in the opening tracks mixes well the faster time signatures of the second half. All of these tracks feature lyrics showing the dystopian outlook the band has on life. 

"Utopia - lost in chaos

As the sky turns black

Suicide legacy

There is no turning back"

...

Suicide nation

Mass-appeal, death-addiction

Dead but dreaming

Restrained by phobia, brainwashed into submission

Control, control" (Suicide Nation)

"Genetic barcode hell

Mental genocide

Repulsive human shells

Choke on the fruits of life" (Nausea)

The final track "The Flames of the End" honestly feels out of place on Slaughter. The digital synths sound like a ripped sound file from the Metal Gear Solid OST. Switching "Into a Dead Sky" with this track may have made the album finish on a stronger note.

After touring for the album, At the Gates called it quits for eleven years. During their hiatus, members started or join new bands. Linberg fronted Greek melo death band Nightrage for their albums Sweet Vengeance and Descent into Chaos and sang for grindcore super-group Lock Up's debut Hate Breeds Suffering. Jonas Björler and Adrian Erlandsson formed The Haunted; a groove metal leaning, melodic death band featuring an all star lineup throughout it's history. In 2007, At the Gates reunited for a brief, year long tour. The band made an official come back 2010, released a few live albums, and returned to the scene with their 2014 album At War With Reality. An album that showed that At the Gate hardly missed a beat during their time apart. The great but poorly produced To Drink from the Night Itself dropped four years later. At the Gates have remained active to this day.     

Slaughter of the Soul encapsulates the sound of generation. The album is a masterpiece released alongside other highly influential albums in 1995 like Demanufacture, Destroy Erase Improve, and The Gallery. The song writing and lyricism on Slaughter helped revitalize the slowly stagnating metal of the mid-90s and acted as a pivot point for the genre as a whole. Shortly after the release of Slaughter, the metalcore wave rose. Many of the riffs used by bands like Unearth, As I Lay Dying, and Trivium studied the blueprint set by At the Gates. It is a record that was not a flash in the pan and will never fade into obscurity. Slaughter of the Soul is a litmus test of what separates a good album from a masterpiece.

Stream the album here

Banger TV special on the album here

Interview with At the Gates and Nodstrom here

Review: Nothing as the Ideal by All them Witches

 

Tennessee workhorses All Them Witches are one of the best in business. With now six albums under their belt, each sounding better and more dynamic than the last, ATW show that they are never ready to settle into a certain sound or be pigeonholed into a single genre. With their first two albums, Our Mother Electricity and Lightening at the Door, the band took a straight forward approach to psych rock; utilizing heavy fuzzed out guitars mixed with more laid back and atmospheric instrumentation. Songs These albums also showcases the band's love for the blues and maintaining a hypnotic groove (see "Until it Unwinds" and "Charles Williams") as well. ATW's more atmospheric side shined through on their next two albums: the folk focused Dying Surfer Meets His Maker and the all over the place Sleeping Through the War. Their last album, 2018's simply titled ATW, acts as the perfect middle ground for all the sounds heard through All Them Witches discography. In 2019, the band provided fans with a brief taste of things to come with the single "1x1" released on Halloween. Little else was released in regards to a new album. Soon, the band let it slip that they would be heading across the pond and recording their new album at Abby Road Studio 2; the same studio where The Beatles recorded their most famous album. Now, after a year of writing and restructuring, ATW presents Nothing as the Ideal released on New West Records.

Right from the start, All Them Witches makes it clear that they are determined to bring the heavy on this album. "Saturnine & Iron Jaw" starts with a lengthy, creepy intro featuring the bit crushed sounds of deep breaths backed by horror movie synths. After a brief blues guitar intro, ATW explodes into some of the heaviest guitar riffs ever heard in the band's discography. Guitarist Ben McLeod cranks up the distortion while the bass work from Charles Parks Jr. thunders. In an video with Hiwatt Amps, McLeod stated that he was trying to go for more Black Sabbath-style riffs and the first track is good indication of his desired direction.  Robby Staebler's pulse pounding drumming really ties the track together. The lyrics quote the album title stating:

"Higher force of perception
Nothing, that's the ideal.
Lead me back to myself

Gentle hand of confusion" 

"Enemy of my Enemy" continues in the precedent set by the opener. McLeod's guitar take on a stoner rock vibe with great use of wah for the solos. The bass and drums pull out all the stops. The fast paced section that starts at the 2:24 mark is great addition really shows off the band's technicality. Following the massive riffs of the first two tracks comes a nice respite in the form of "Everest." A short guitar interlude with McLeod playing some bluesy, reverb drenched chords. The creepiness heard on the intro to the opener returns on "See You Next Fall." Horrific ambient noises and pulses with answering machine sounding  vocals being pitch shifted up and down lead into a groovy, psychedelic section with Parks and Staebler keeping a steady beat while McLeod solos. The lyrics reflect the laid back nature of the track.

"Good day
For me at least 
I'm not grinding my teeth 
I'm not laying in wait
There's something warm
The dragons to slay
It's something of charm
To have nothing to say"

The instrumentation overall on "See You Next Fall" is very hypnotic and relaxing. After two verses, a splatty fuzz is placed on the guitars and the band turns up the distortion once again for an ending solo section. 

"The Children of the Coyote Woman" is another entry in the "Coyote Woman" songs as heard on Lightening at the Door. The song does a great job of easing the listener into side B of the album This track takes a folky blues approach and uses the mythical Roman figures of Romulus and Remus to tell a story. The lyrics of this track are not just a simple rehash of the well-known Roman myth. Instead of the establishment of the city that would become the hub for the Roman Empire, All Them Witches place the mythical brothers in rural America, Arkansas specifically, and give them the surname of "Hill." 

"Romulus and Remus Hill
Lived at the top of Ouchita Bend
Momma died, they laid her down
And quickly took to squabbling."

The lyrics also discuss how the fighting between Romulus and Remus causes great destruction throughout the country side, causing others to flee outward into the vast lands.

"They get to thumping and the house quaked
They call the lightening down from God's front gate
And all the neighbors had to move along 
For fear they'd get caught of in the wake
Of the titan gods
Good old boys in the oubliette of life."

This twist in the lyrics is really unique and sets up a very interesting story. It's as if an old frontiersman is telling the telling of the origins of America through the lens of Roman mythology. The instrumentation of the song is very acoustic and slide guitar focused. The drums are washed in reverb with the toms leading the rhythm.

"41" acts as a bridge between the heavy and laid back style featured on Nothing as the Ideal. The heavy, almost sludge metal chugging is counterpointed by clean verse riffs and twangy open chords. The drums are very cymbal heavy and the bass is constantly thumping throughout the track. The lyrics take a Lovecraftian turn with "The great form, Has no shape nor evilness upon its face." The style heard on "Saturnine & Iron Jaw" and "Enemy of My Enemy" comes back on "Lights Out." Each member goes full force with the bass and guitar never playing clean and the drums pounding away. The outro of the track is another eerie section that leads into the closer "Rats in Ruins"

The most beautiful track on the album, "Rats in Ruin" is a ballad with Parks' voice being passed through a warbled, "Planet Caravan" filter. McLeod plays acoustic and some modulated, jangly clean electric guitar. The lyrics are what really steal the show on this track. Each verse is drenched in melancholy, are extremely thought provoking, and read like a poem.

"Found all my arrogance
Hung from the barbed wire fence
'Cause you never gave me
A little ground
Found all my belly fire
On the concertina wire
I had to get over it
Or go underground"

...

"I must confess

Happiness

Eats away

At the mind today

Would you journey to view

If all seems well

Is Gutter King out pacing gutter hell?"

The prose of "Rats in Ruin" is some of the best lyrics present throughout all of ATW's expansive work. The lyrics juxtaposed with the overall heavier route this album takes, ends the album on a relaxing exhale rather than a headbang. It provides a moment of reflection, a brief snapshot in time to look inward and just think.  Following the two verses, this amazing track ends on an uplifting, post-rock solo section. The drums finally join in with a slow and steady beat with well done fills. The guitar solo is very simple and features a lot of feedback. One hell of a track to cap off one hell of an album.

All them Witches really showcase all of their talents on Nothing as the Ideal. Despite leaning more toward an overall heavier sound, the psychedelic blues and folks seen on all their past work shines through. It is an album that will stomp listeners with distortion and simultaneously pick them up with some beautiful clean songs and passages. In an interview with Spin magazine, the band stated that after the release of "1x1" and trying their best to utilize a new studio space they built in Nashville, they needed a change of scenery to help break the funk they found themselves in. Recording in the legendary Abby Road Studio 2 definitely paid off for the band and helped produce one of their best albums. All in all, Nothing as the Ideal is a diverse and fun rock album that will be hard to top this year as one of the best in the genre.

Stream the album here
ATW discography here
Buy ATW merch here and here