It’s funny how history rewrites itself in hindsight. With “Slaughter of the Soul” now being called “genre defining” and subsequently hugely influential, the At the Gates reunion show tomorrow has sold out. In truth, “SOTS” was actually a genre killer, taking the elements of the extreme Earache bands and making a bombastic, melodic record that is pretty awesome, but that no one seemed to care about at the time. It really sounds like “Extreme Aggression” era Kreator with the guitar tone of “Entombed” updated with killer production and drum sound. All good things, but had they not persisted and made more records, such as “The Haunted (Made Me Do It)” (another great record) and remain a vital part of the heavy Swedish music scene, I’m not sure anyone would remember them and Earache’s decision to put SOTS in their top 10 most essential is definitely questionable.
It will be interesting to see how this reunion pans out and if they will stay true to their claim of “Summer Tour only and no more.”
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