Gateways to Annihilation is the sixth studio album by the death metal

Death metal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....

 band Morbid Angel

Morbid Angel

Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida. UK music magazine Terrorizer ranked one Morbid Angel album in its “Top 40 greatest death metal albums”, with their 1989 debut Altars of Madness appearing at number 1...

.

This album saw a change in musical style as the speed-laden intensity of the previous album Formulas Fatal to the Flesh

Formulas Fatal to the Flesh

Formulas Fatal to the Flesh is the fifth full-length studio album by death metal band Morbid Angel. The title of this album is a biblical reference: it contains the letter "F" - the 6th letter of the alphabet - capitalized three times, which refers to the Number of the Beast, 666...

was abandoned for a slower, more droning style, reminiscent of Blessed Are the Sick

Blessed Are the Sick

Blessed Are the Sick is the second official release from death metal band Morbid Angel. It features an overall slower musical sound, although containing very fast riffs, and reveals another side of the band, with classical music undertones...

. This is also the first album in which Steve Tucker contributed lyrics and music to the band.

Dan Seagrave

Dan Seagrave

Daniel Seagrave is a British artist, who created many record covers for death metal bands especially in the early 1990s. He currently lives in Toronto, Canada. He grew up in Ravenshead, near Nottingham....

 painted the album cover.

Track listing

Personnel

• Steve Tucker – bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , vocals
• Trey Azagthoth
  Trey Azagthoth
  Trey Azagthoth is an American musician best known as founder and guitarist of the Florida death metal band Morbid Angel. Azagthoth began playing at the age of 16...
  
   – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , additional vocals on "Secured Limitations"
• Erik Rutan
  Erik Rutan
  Erik Rutan is an American heavy metal musician from New Jersey. He currently leads Hate Eternal on lead vocals and guitar and has also spent time with Morbid Angel and Ripping Corpse...
  
   – guitar, keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  
• Pete Sandoval
  Pete Sandoval
  Pete Sandoval is an American death metal drummer. Born in Santa Ana, El Salvador, he is known for his accomplishments in the world of extreme metal drumming. His first significant stint as a drummer was for the grindcore band Terrorizer, formed in 1986, where he began to demonstrate some of his...
  
   – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....