Jacobin more prominent in leading France, the period when war was declared on Austria and Prussia, the monarchy was overthrown and the Republic created. In May 1793, the leaders of the Mountain faction led by Maximilien Robespierre succeeded in sidelining the Girondin faction and controlled the government until July 1794. Their time in government was characterized by high levels of political violence and for this reason the period of the Jacobin/Mountain government is also commonly referred to as the Reign of Terror. In October 1793, 21 prominent Girondins were guillotined. The Mountain-dominated government executed 17,000 opponents nationwide, purportedly to suppress the
Reign of Terror (Sleigh Bells album) huge, and a press release described it as "the sonic equivalent of a beautiful shotgun to the head." Lyrically, "Reign of Terror" features songs that are emotionally heavy, differing from the songs on "Treats" which were described as "party music" by Miller. Sleigh Bells were rushed during the production of "Treats" and were unable to finish recording all of the songs they had written before they had to leave the studio to perform at scheduled tour dates. Not wanting to repeat this mistake, the duo set aside a lot of time in 2011 to record and produce "Reign of Terror".