Slaughter Of The Soul (+DVD)

2007年、突如浮上した衝撃の情報『AT THE GATES再結成』。期限付き・ライヴ限定と思われるとは言え、既に2008年の「Wacken Open Air」フェスへの参加も決定（再結成CARCASSもです!!）とあっては、盛り上がるなと言うのも無理な話。そんな中での、1995年発表の名盤4thアルバムリイシュー！昨今のメタルコア・ムーブメントに多大な影響を与えたバンドとして、アメリカでは今尚“伝説”扱い。今こそメタル・ファンのみならず、メタルコア系を含む全てのエクストリーム・ミュージック・ファンに訴求すべき作品!!

While "Blinded by Fear" begins Slaughter of the Soul with a screwy and interesting semi-industrial percussion loop, about 40 seconds in it becomes all light-speed crunch, riffs, and snarls, so those who never liked thrash in the first place aren't going to be convinced by the goings-on here. But for those for whom such stuff is like oxygen? It depends. Singer Tomas Lindberg actually steers away from the typical Cookie Monster growl in favor of a higher but equally strangled register, while his lyrics avoid bad fantasy poesy, at least for the most part, in favor of more existential crises. If nothing else, he has a good line in influences, with quotes from everyone from William Burroughs to the 13th Floor Elevators. As for his bandmates, nothing here sounds too different from what those who worshipped at the wells of Kill 'Em All and Reign in Blood would have created, but what they do they do quite well. The arrangements are tight and performances strong (guitarists Anders Bjorler and Martin Larsson clearly have practiced their riff action many a time), and the occasional extra touch like acoustic guitar or notable space in the production, holding back at points rather than just grinding things into the ground, never hurts. "Cold" is a good example of this, with a soft electric guitar break about two minutes in, while the instrumental "Into the Dead Sky" consists of nothing but similarly calm guitar and whooshing background noises. Sometimes the contrast can be a bit odd -- hearing Lindberg's howls against nothing but brief flamenco runs in "Unto Others" isn't the most typical of combinations! While Slaughter may not be the best album of its kind, it's definitely better than most, with its own character. ~ Ned Raggett|