"Slaughter of the Soul" is the fourth full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act At the Gates. The album was released through Earache Records in November 1995. It´s the successor to "Terminal Spirit Disease" from 1994 and it would be the last album release by At the Gates before their split-up in 1996. The band were at the height of their success and had their international breakthrough with "Slaughter of the Soul", but after touring heavily in support of the album (including a couple of US tours), the Björler brothers (Anders on guitars and Jonas on bass) decided to leave At the Gates, and the remaining members didn´t feel they could continue without them. The Björler brothers and drummer Adrian Erlandsson would soon after form The Haunted.
Stylistically the material on "Slaughter of the Soul" is the most powerful, trimmed, and mature version of At the Gates. Gone are the odd musical experiments of the first two albums, and the material inconsistency of "Terminal Spirit Disease" (1994), and what´s left is the sharpest, most melodic, rewarding, and intriguing release of their original run. Lead vocalist Tomas Lindberg still sounds like he has just swallowed a plateful of broken glass with his high pitched almost desperate sounding growling vocal style and the band are very well playing delivering one death/thrashy riff after another, and loads of melodic leads and harmonies. The rhythm section drive the music forward in a powerful energetic fashion, and it´s definitely one of those albums where it´s audible that the band members felt they had composed something special, and that they needed to convey that in the most intense way possible.
This may first and foremost be a melodic death metal release, but many of the riffs on the album actually belong in thrash metal territory, making "Slaughter of the Soul" quite the interesting release in terms of the fast-paced rhythm guitar riffs. While the tracks are not exactly experimental or anything in that ballpark, At the Gates still manage to incorporate enough non vers/chorus parts to keep the songs interesting, which is also helped along by the many tempo changes during the tracks. "Slaughter of the Soul" also features atmospheric parts and while it may not initially sound like it, the tracks are varied and memorable and have the potential to grow on you.
"Slaughter of the Soul" features a powerful, detailed, and well sounding production, which suits the material perfectly, and upon conclusion it´s a high quality release by At the Gates. a 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.