I was working at a silk screen print shop in 2000. One of my Co workers became a good friend, we bonded over gaming and death metal. While my musical path had strayed from metal for years this guy held the course. A death metal aficionado if ever there was one. Early on in our friendship he turned me on to Immolation and re-introduced me to #morbidangel . He made me a mix CD of his favorite Morbid Angel tracks and I listened to it intensely. I started purchasing their discography and while doing this they released this disc "gateways to annihilation" which actually became my favorite album in their discography. Side note: it was at this time I realised the band were titling their releases in alphabetical order "altars of madness", "blessed are the sick", "covenent", "domination", "entangled in chaos", "formulas fatal to the flesh" and then this album. I revealed my discovery to my buddy and we both reveled in the trivia. This record is my favorite in their solid body of work up to this point because of it's doom-laden tempos. The band shifted into low gear for this release and adds a dimension to their brand of death metal. From field recordings of chipping crickets to paced double bass drum attacks (Pete Sandoval is a death metal drumming pioneer) and the great Dan Seagrave album cover of a Lovecraftian landscape this is upper echelon type death metal. While purists may prefer their faster paced albums the pace here weights the album in a delicious way. I'm going to assume my buddy will have a different opinion if and when he reads this. I love geek debates of fetishized interests and welcome his case for what I'm assuming will be a different favorite release.
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