At the Gates – Slaughter of the Soul review
At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul
Slaughter of the Soul is one of the most important metal releases of the 1990s. The production style, atmosphere, and most importantly riffs forever changed melodic death metal. “They’re just At the Gates rip-offs!” is one of the most commonly heard criticisms of derivative melodic death metal bands. But when you write the book, you have to expect some sentences to be copied…
Slaughter of the Soul is their last album, but At the Gates have a respectable back catalogue of work. From more primitive, visceral Swedish death metal ala Entombed or Dismember on the Gardens of Grief EP to the very ambitious With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness full-length, their progression was slow but persistent. The EP before Slaughter, Terminal Spirit Disease, hinted at what would appear next: the oddly-picked rhythm guitars, Tomas’s increasingly desperate vocals and creative drumming were present, but the ingredients hadn’t solidified.
The first thing you notice about Slaughter of the Soul is the production. The drums are very apparent, the cymbals are bright and the bass drums have enough treble to pull them out of the muddy swamp that engulfs too many metal drum sounds. The snare cracks viciously while the toms are perfectly balanced. The guitar tone, product of a homemade speaker cabinet, is thick and deep while still distinct. The production has a definite clean, almost industrial feel. Aided by the machine-tight musicianship the album speeds forward with mechanical precision. The production is even more impressive after watching the “Making Of” DVD. It shows how low-budget the recording process was. For example, Tomas was forced to run towards a microphone while screaming in order to create a “fade in” effect.
Tomas’ vocals are perfect. On the previous albums his voice sounded forced and a little tiring, but here he performs with undeniable authority. He delivers lyrics with conviction and desperation. My favorite moment on the entire album is the break in “Cold”: the guitars drop out and Tomas pleads “Twenty-two years of pain/And I can feel it closing in…”. The lyrics are claustrophobic, simultaneously isolated from and overpowered by society. They paint images of modern day chaos: “There won’t be another dawn/We will reap as we have sewn” and “Only the dead are smiling”. Many of the lyrics repeat song titles from the album, lending Slaughter more lyrical cohesion. Other Gothenburg bands may have similar riffs and production, but no other Gothenburg album is as lyrically powerful.
The guitar parts on Slaughter of the Soul are unparalleled. Many bands harmonize intelligently while alternating between open strings and pentatonic notes. But the guitarist’s years of experience result in the some of the best riffs and song structure in the genre. Part of AtG’s unique sound is a product of picking style – root notes are sometimes simply alternate picked, or double picked, or “galloped” like Iron Maiden. Pay close attention, sometimes the guitars are picked with a mix of styles, a strange shuffling pattern that flits dangerously around the simplistic “Slayer beat” of the drummer. The songs are streamlined, usually with only four or five riffs. Slaughter of the Soul is perfectly lean. The band only allowed the best material on the album. A bonus track on the re-release called “The Dying” did not make the final cut, despite being better than most melodeath tripe released today.
A few beautiful instrumental interludes tie the album together perfectly, providing an ominous respite during the chaos. “The Flames of the End” works perfectly as the album closer. It plays out like the end credits to a movie. The album would be too jarring with out the closing track. It’s the final song after the musical soundtrack to the Apocalypse. As the ashes are settling the tension mounts one last time before the album returns to darkness. We are once again blind to the worlds within us, waiting to be born…
Links:
At the Gates myspace (includes current US tour/Euro festival info)
Interview with Mike Majewski of Devourment
Mike Majewski
Devourment vocalist Mike Majewski is an easy guy to find. He’s frequently on different death metal discussion boards, chatting about old school death metal, women, and a whole lot of video games. Despite his presence online, he rarely discusses his band, so I decided to get some info about the band’s next album, artwork, merch, and those crazy horse photos on the band’s Myspace.
First off thanks for the interview.
Any time.
Biggest question first: Give us an update on Devourment. Do you have a studio picked out yet? Realistically would you be able to give a time estimate?
Pretty much. We always recorded with Braxton Henry and the one time we strayed from him, we regretted the shit out of it. Not gonna make that mistake again, he is an amazing engineer and producer. We aren’t as far along as we’d hoped, but realistically we are looking at late 08, early 09.
Speaking of art, I know Seagrave re-did the maggot for you, are you pleased with that? Are you yourself going to do any other art for the album?
Yes, its absolutely amazing. He just re-imagined the design while staying true to the concept, the man is brilliant. We are going to make the next album layout a who’s who of underground artists. Seagrave is already known, and I won’t spoil any of the others, but lets just say there is gonna be art from several major underground artists, some already in our possession, some in progress. I’m stoked
Describe some of the new songs.
What we are really shooting for on the new one is variation. We want each song to have more of an identity than that of Molesting and Butcher. We will stay true to our style, but we are going to expand as well. We don’t want to continue with the same formulas that we, and a lot of other similar bands are currently doing. We are focusing a lot more on intensity. There will be a couple of trademark groovier songs, there is one that is pretty much straight grind. We are losing a bit of convention to keep things interesting. Are we gonna piss off some of our old fans? I hope not. Are we looking to make new fans? Not really. We just want to be smart about what we are doing and surprise some people.
What kind of production are you going for on the new album? Would you be happy if it sounded like Butcher the Weak?
Butcher is a chapter for us and I love the production on it. The next one for me has to have a much beefier guitar tone, perhaps a bit less bass distortion. Ruben upgraded his rig quite a bit since then, so its pretty much taken care of. I’d like the vox slightly louder in the mix as well.
Any chance of the recording sessions being filmed? You could be 3:3 for CDs/DVDs…
For sure. We did that for Butcher the Weak which is on our second DVD. The studio experience for us is as good as playing live. We all get along great, we have a blast and documenting it is pretty much essential.
Is Ruben going to do vocals on this album? Would guitar solos ever fit in Devourment?
I want him to. I think I could probably convince him. I have a lethal weapon at my disposal so it would be a shame not to utilize it. Solo’s? Nah, not us. I’m not opposed to some leads though if it feels right.
What kind of misogynist slogans are you cooking up for the next line of Devourment shirts?
Haha. Actually you’ll probably be seeing less and less of that, even in the lyrics. Again, trying to expand and not repeat ourselves. Not entirely though, you’ll definitely see some whore bashing lyrics. I had some girl troubles since Butcher came out so I gotta vent a little at least.
If you had to choose only one, would you rather continue being a vocalist for Devourment or continue to create images and logos for other bands?
That’s actually a tough one because my first passion is art. But I’d choose vox. There is no better feeling than knowing you will have an insane crowd no matter when and where you play. That’s the dream man.
What was the deal with the horsehead photos on your myspace?
The Captain
HAHAHAHA. That’s the Captain. He found this place in Tokyo that sold masks and he said it was instant, he had to have it. His theory is that all woman are whores and need horse cock, so he shall now be known as Captain Horse. The Horse may be making some live appearances from what I hear.
What was Japan like? What were some of your impressions?
Dude, there is no words. It’s the best place I have ever been. I have never witnessed a friendlier, more organized civilization than I saw there.
Did you do anything differently after the UK customs fiasco?
We just try to find out the stipulations of getting into the country trouble free. We weren’t properly informed about the UK’s requirements, so we paid the price. Live and learn.
Do you think Brutal Bands will help you finance a US tour after the new album?
Hmmm. If it happens, I’d like to think so. Seriously they are a great label but I’m not sure that we would ever do a major tour. We have to break it up because of our jerbs.
What merch do you have right now, what’re you doing in the near future? Who should be contacted, and how?
It would do you no good to contact anyone else in the band, as they have an aversion to fan mail. I do not however. At the moment we have 2 new cool maggot designs, by myself and Mark Riddick, so we’ll push those for a while.
If you could remix 1.3.8. and make it sound like any Roadrunner death metal album, what would you choose?
Cause of Death
You have legions of fans who buy any shirt you do art for, but do you ever feel held back? Have you ever explored painting? Would you ever try a non-violent piece?
At times a bit. The reason I haven’t been doing color lately is because I have been trying to improve my skills there. I have gotten better at that though and did some recent color pieces that I feel are my best. As for non violent stuff, I have a whole portfolio of fine art, pastels, figure drawing, airbrush, pencil, you name it. I went to art school for 2 and a half years.
OK, now for the fun. One or the other?
Here in After or XBOX 360?
Son of a bitch.
SMN or your own forum?
Can’t decide. I go to both for different reasons and I like them and the members equally.
Your mother’s love or the breakdown in “No Jesus, No Beast”?
Pssh, sorry ma.
If you were forced to switch vocal cords with King Diamond or Varg who would you choose? By the way, Devourment is headlining Wacken the next day…
Haha. Gotta be the King, I worshipped him throughout highschool and still do.
Ask yourself a question I didn’t…
Hey Mike, what would you change about the current metal scene?
More Unity!
And thank you!
Thank you man
Links:
Mike Majewski’s Art Myspace (logos, shirt art, etc)
