Slayer - Live Undead (1984)

Metal Blade Records must have had enormous confidence in their young act Slayer, releasing Live Undead after only a year after the band's debut Show No Mercy, before they had a wealth of material from which to draw. The Haunting the Chapel EP had also come out by this point, and it's represented here through "Captor of Sin", but hell, if this album were any longer it might have encompassed all of the band's official tracks to its day. Instead, Live Undead is short but sweet, with only seven songs at 22 minutes that flow intuitively like rivulets of red against razor-tracked veins, and despite its brevity, it stands alongside Maiden's Live After Death or Destruction's Live Without Sense as one of the finer 80s live recordings in metal.

To be honest, though, I'm not sure one could deem this a 'proper' live album. Instead of playing up on a stage in front of strangers, this was recorded in a New York studio to an audience of what I assume were largely friends and acquaintances. It's even been hinted that the band just added crowd noises in after the recording, something producer Bill Metoyer has been close-lipped about when asked. So, to an extent, the studio setting allows for a more controlled environment, and it's no surprise that it sounds quite this good, but judging by the drum sound and the little spoken intros and outros that flow seamlessly with the music, these are at least different versions than the previously released studio takes. For what it's worth, the band sounds great here, with a punishing clarity that allows Araya's vocals and bass to freely wander alongside the dense and meaty guitar tone, while Lombardo thunders away flawlessly.

The song selection is, of course, kick ass, being taken from only the band's early works. Show No Mercy favorites like "Die By the Sword", "Black Magic", "Evil Has No Boundaries", the title track, and especially "The Antichrist" all murder the small 'audience'. All are vibrant and brutal for the time, with perhaps "The Antichrist" and "Evil Has No Boundaries" shining through the most. These are joined by "Captor of Sin", which Tom Araya dedicates to 'all the little cunts who like to spread their legs in the night'; and "Aggressive Perfector", which wouldn't be heard again in studio form until the single for "Seasons in the Abyss" (1990). It's a mix that any Slayer fan should and would relish, long before they chocked up their discography with the mediocrity of the 90s, and reminds one of more exciting times for the speed/thrash genre.

In any case, Live Undead is quite pro, even if it's been manipulated somewhat to sound like something it wasn't. Those seeking out a far more substantial live offering from the Californians would be wise to go for Decade of Aggression, which still features a largely quality track listing and includes material from the impeccable South of Heaven and the amazing Reign in Blood, but the consistency within this 22 minute experience cannot be beat if you just want something to get the blood stirred en route to work or your sister's wedding or a court arraignment or whatnot.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://www.slayer.net/us/home

Slayer - Diabolus in Musica (1998)

Let's face facts: Slayer ran out of their presumably inexhaustible supply of relevance when they ran out of sounding evil. History will record that this transpired between the years of Seasons in the Abyss (1990) and Divine Intervention (1994). Coincidentally, these were the same years in which other big names of the extreme metal genre were experiencing their own difficulty in coming to identity with the changing 90s. The dominance of grunge, 'alternative', British sop rock and the peaking of the rap game. Like Megadeth, Metallica, Anthrax and so many others, they felt forced to adapt themselves to this oncoming rush of change, and while they might not have bent so far as others in the declining thrash metal category, we were nevertheless left with the pungent shit-stain that is Diabolus in Musica, an album about as attractive as a fit of irritable bowel syndrome.

What the hell am I looking at? Billy Corgin masquerading as a Christian superhero? Or were Tom Araya and the boys finally giving us the reveal that they are not, in fact, nearly so Satanic as one might have believed from their legendary 80s albums. The strange new logo and decidedly 90s cover image (which inspires nothing but remorse) would be one thing, and one thing I expected during a time in which Janes Addiction and Tool were considered the peak of musical artistry, but very quickly does the composition of its content take a dive for the lowest common denominator, the wretched wigga groove metal scene inhabited and dominated by acts like Korn, Machine Head, P.O.D. and whoever else I'm too horrified to recall. Now, don't get me wrong...they attempted to stave this stench off for as long as possible. Divine Intervention was an entirely mediocre record, yes, but it was Slayer being Slayer. Only boring, which no one in their right mind could really want, but that was the worst it could be accused of. An urbanization of their esoteric, interesting subject matter into the burgeoning Information Age.

The boredom continues here through "Bitter Peace", a track that at least teases us into thinking their will be a good thrashin' waiting at the end of this ghetto rainbow. Mundane groove chords stretch on into banality like some sorrow attempt to recapture the magic of Reign in Blood, that flawless exercise of an album that (unfortunately) launched a billion metalcore kids with its inescapable breakdowns. Well, sure enough, the band picks up the pace for some speed/thrash reminiscent of Divine Intervention, only the riff is entirely throwaway and not even remotely evil. The later breakdown sucks, and about the only tolerable point of this song is the period from around 2:57 when the leads break out against a decent but self-derived rhythm guitar. And then, then it all goes to shit, with the total LCD groove metal track "Death's Head", the very definition of JUMP DA FUC UP for disenchanted Limp Bizkit expatriates who seek a seance with Satan.

This was a joke, right? Surely they were having a laugh on us? Oh no, my friends of misery, for "Stain of Mind" put the strain on mine. "Overt Enemy" offered us political commentary to the beat of the cheesiest chug rhythm the metalcore mosh-squad living on your corner ever could dream of. "Perversion of Pain" attempted to bring back the psychedelic, haunting layered Araya vocals of Seasons but forgot the good music to go with them. "Love to Hate" clobbered us with another clutter of vapid grooves that missed the mark no matter how hard Paul Bostaph tried to jazz it up. The list of complaints I could write for this album could compete with Black Friday foot traffic at your local Wal*Mart. It sucks, hands down, and even at it's arguable best, the cluttered speed of "Scrum" or the clumsy, familiar grooving of "Screaming from the Sky" it feels like a half-assed grasp at a paycheck.

I'm surprised Rick Rubin didn't submit this directly to his friends over at Def Jam. Okay, so maybe it's not a rap metal record exactly, but it feels like a clear swerve towards that crowd of collegiates who discovered all their latest faves while loaded at the latest Lollapalooza or Ozzfest. All they needed were some Mike D and Ad Rock guest slots and they could have pushed 2-3 million of these bottom line. And you know something? This all might have been fine if the grooves were good, the notes memorable, the vocal patterns as effective as their yesteryears. Diabolus in Musica is such a dull, creatively bankrupt recording that it makes even its mediocre successors seem like brilliant bulbs of passion and musicianship. Of the many missteps made among the 'Big Four', this is second only to St. Anger in terms of its failure. I don't know about you cats, but I want my Slayer to sound like it originated from Malebolge, not the mall. An icon of perdition, not parachute pants.

Verdict: Fail [2.25/10] (wash the virtue from your eyes)

http://www.slayer.net/us/home

Slayer - Hell Awaits (1985)

Slayer's sophomore Hell Awaits holds a number of memories for me, both chilling and comic, because it was one of those rare albums that experienced a sort of 'urban legend' cult status in my middle school years. Several peers and I once passed a cassette recording of both this and Show No Mercy around to one another, terrified of its contents, perhaps clinging to those vestigial traces of Christian upbringing. Copies were confiscated by teachers and parents, and a few of us got a good 'talking to', myself in particular, for spreading the twisted diocese of Satan through the rank and file of the innocent.

Keep in mind that I was about 11-12 years old at this time, the target of crass, ignorant exaggerations by a Protestant flock, and by no means in thrall of the Prince of Hell. But the damage was done. I bought the actual cassette. My parents took it away. I stole it back. The top of the refrigerator was hardly a sufficient hiding place for my 'unapproved' stock of metal albums. They gave up. I bought the back patch, and was so armored the very day I parted ways from the Protestant faith (after being forced up through Confirmation prep class as an obligation). What an ironic portrait, a dorky pre-teen armed in denim and devils, striding proudly through a dull spring rain in 1986, having quit Church forever, wearing this image and title on my back. The prescient, magic 8-ball might read that my outlook was not so good.

Alas, our figures of social authority had one thing right: Hell Awaits was one scary fucking record, especially when unleashed upon an audience whose idea of extreme was Dee Snider wearing blush and mascara. Granted, we had Welcome to Hell and Number of the Beast floating around by this time, but Slayer took this concept to an entirely new plateau, not only because of the lyrical content, but the cruelty of the riffs here that jettisoned the simplistic, scathing roots of Show No Mercy into an even sharper blade of menace and perdition. The songs were longer, more fleshed out, more 'mature', yet the blinding speed remained: Hanneman and King a pair of unstoppable ghouls cycling through a rogues gallery of bloodstained, fire-hardened riffs that would cement their stature as gods of diabolic thrash; Araya settling more into his distinct mid range, with nary a shriek to be experienced in most of the vocal passages; Lombardo breeding an entire new school of drummers that would follow his extremity into darker, restless climes.

What better a herald to the fiery paths than a bath of feedback and cacodaemons exclaiming 'Join us' in reverse? Such is the de-Christening of "Hell Awaits" itself, the gallant vanguard that slowly and steadily escalated its warlike veneer into plodding, dire thrash, with that legendary ascent from conflagration at around 2:20. You are now at war, children, and Satan is your general. Let him ride upon your backs and piss upon the clouds of the Holy Host. But as charming a setup as this is, nothing, and I mean nothing can prepare one for the voracious evil that is "Kill Again", one of my personal favorite Slayer tracks, the perfunctory serial killer anthem that had to be one of the most bitter and extreme metal tunes I had heard for its day, once more incorporating Lombardo's warlike percussion into a salvo of beautifully belligerent riffs that seem to incite violence with their very notation, the chorus an unforgettably babbled hymn to atrocity:

No apparent motive, just kill and kill again
Survive my brutal thrashing, I'll hunt you till the end
My life's a constant battle, the rage of many men, homicidal maniac!

So how do you follow up a celebration of murder? How about with some fucking vampires? "At Dawn They Sleep" opens with a horrific bristling spike of carnal melody before it transforms into another of the band's undying, gibbering chorus sequences that seems to mock the listener through its cacophonous glee. These three tracks alone would place Hell Awaits fork and horns above most thrash/speed metal histories, but Slayer were not finished with us yet, launching into the barbaric "Praise of Death" which serves as a sinister foreshadowing to the rampant, uncaring speed of their following masterpiece Reign in Blood. "Necrophiliac" is one of the best known songs from this album for a reason, it's rapid fire perversity transforming a sadistic and 'immoral' fetish into an act of glory worthy of any crude Colosseum, the crowd of sinners turning their thumbs proudly to herald the fused fornication of the living and the dead.

Beyond this festering folly, we are led to what I might argue is the most unsung anti-hero of this record, "Crypts of Eternity", which opens with about a minutes of blistering, spiny necromantic guitars before it rolls into the verse and chorus, and an amazingly despotic bridge section that once more teases at what Slayer will produce in the following year, a turbulent breakdown festooned in a blaze of percussive exorcism. Lastly comes "Hardening of the Arteries", one of the album's faster pieces that strikes like a scourge or cat o' nine tails along the bared skin of the penitent with its apocalyptic poetics. While it certainly belongs here among this wretched flock, it is perhaps the one song here I don't think is perfect: for all the accoutrement of anguish created in the warlike, hammering finale, I found myself mildly disinterested.

Slayer's sophomore was not only proof of the band's persistence, that they were no one trick pony with the masterful Show No Mercy, but it also remains one of the band's nearest flirtations with perfection, surpassed only by its closest brethren in bedlam. The album is not so fixed and fluid as its untarnished successor, but it's nearly as bewitching in the consistency of themes and the composition. There is nothing clean or polished about Hell Awaits, no salvation at the end of its corridor of sinful flesh, and it's a worthy archetype for some of the most demented extreme metal to have been produced since, an absolute necessity for any fan of speed, thrash, black or death metal that values the cautionary discomfort of unbridled anger and passion.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.75/10] (He shall soon fall to me)

http://www.slayer.net/us/home

Slayer - World Painted Blood (2009)

It's been 11 years now since Slayer screwed the pooch and released the abominable Diabolus in Musica. In the interim, we've gotten a pair of albums that, while not a total bust, were largely forgettable when compared against this band's body of 80s work. So three years pass after Christ Illusion, and the buzz is mounting for World Painted Blood, Slayer's 11th full length release. How does it stack up?

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this question. World Painted Blood is by and large a thrash metal album, and I for one am grateful to hear it. But it's not a very good thrash album...it exudes none of the menace or aggression of their many classics, and part of that is a product of the album's production. Tom Araya still sounds quite fierce, but the guitars have a different, crunchy sound to them. This isn't to say they sound bad, but there is a sterile feeling to the album which often scored a few yawns while I was listening. The album does have a few blistering tracks, like "Unit 731" and "Hate Worldwide", which are certainly as explosive as anything else the band has produced in nearly 20 years. "Playing With Dolls" is an interesting track, which teases with some clean vocals and melodies before adopting some chugging, old school Slayer grooves and, well, 'bounce' like lyrics. But I found most of the other tracks to be rather ho-hum for Slayer, pleasant enough to listen through but creating no compulsion to replay.

Eclipsing our reason
Whipping burn
In high imitation
Scream for an act in vein
All of these cuts
Bled out hopelessly
Now I'm an act of rage!

To tell the truth, I'm not a whit disappointed by the album, because I have expected little to nothing from this band for years. Musically, the band shows they still have the chops to set themselves on fire. The sporadic leads are still in place, the lyrics are dark, the tone of the album vaguely summons forth nostalgia for Seasons in the Abyss. Of the 11 tracks and 40 minutes, there are about 10-15 minutes where I was clenching my fists and admiring the threat this band can generate. The rest? Meh. I doubt many of these tracks will be making their setlist in the years to come.

Highlights: Unit 731, Hate Worldwide, Not of This God

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10] (that's why it's become my obsession, to treat God like an infection)

http://www.slayer.net

Slayer - South of Heaven (1988)

Slayer had a tough decision to make after releasing Reign in Blood in 1986 - do you make Reign in Blood Part Deux or do you do something different? In 1988 this was answered when South of Heaven was released, an album that was slower and much more melodic than it's predecessor. Was this the right decision? It's hard to say, some people didn't like the more melodic Slayer, though I will admit that I have preferred the later Slayer over their earlier stuff.

The album starts with the title track and as soon as the first riff begins it's evident that this is a different album than Reign in Blood. "South of Heaven" starts with a slow, almost doomy riff, and like with every Slayer album, the title track is always the best song on the album, which is a bit disappointing since this is the very first song! But thankfully "Silent Scream" follows up and it kicks the album up a notch with it's great melodic thrash style. "Live Undead" is another great song with a extremely groovy main riff. Sadly while the next few songs are all really good, the later part of the album - starting with "Read Between the Lines" and ending with the Judas Priest cover of "Dissident Aggressor" - is quite weak and disappointing. It's good then that "Spill the Blood" gives the album a reprieve with another great doomy song like "South of Heaven".

Araya's vocals are, thanks to the slower feel of the album, a lot cleaner and crispier than on the previous albums, and I really like it. The instruments haven't changed much - Lombardo still blasts out some fast beats, Hannerman and King bring some new interesting and enjoyable riffs and of course their signature solos, and finally Araya's bass is there, and that's about it. Overall I feel like this album was a great direction for the band to take, and dare I say it, a bit more enjoyable than Reign in Blood.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (Before you see the light, you must die)

http://www.slayer.net

Slayer - Haunting the Chapel EP (1984)

What better way to celebrate one of the most blood curdling debut albums in the history of metal than to follow it up with a fresh and devastating EP. Many Slayer fans may have had their first exposure to these tracks on the re-mastered edition of Live Undead, where they have conveniently been placed.

The material here is a natural extension of Show No Mercy, and some of the most focused songwriting of their career. "Chemical Warfare" remains one of the most cruel and vicious speed metal songs ever recorded, with its violent build up and then one of the most catchy and simplistic riffs ever devised. Araya's vocals are pure evil as they spit forth the lyrical equivalent of biological armageddon:

Gods Of The Throne Must Be Watching From Hell
Awaiting The Mass Genocide
Soldiers Defeated By Death From A Smell
Bodies Lie Dormant No Life
Rising New Souls On The Land Where They Fell
Demons Not Ready To Die
Nothing To See Where The Sleeping Souls Lie
Chemical Warfare

"Captor of Sin" begins with a rock out riff to a disgusting and messy lead (the Slayer trademark), then busts out a cruel thrash riff under the Satanic lyrics. "Haunting the Chapel" closes the original EP with a nice riff that almost foreshadows the style that would be come more prominent on Reign of Blood and South of Heaven. It reminds me a little of "Die By The Sword", as if I feel that chorus will break out at any moment. The lyrics to all the songs are good.

If you have the 1993 re-issue of this EP material, an extra song is included: "Aggressive Perfector", which originally appeared on the Metal Massacre 3 compilation. It's a groovy and evil track with a nice bass line to it, but not as strong as the original material on the EP. Again, it has some nice and sloppy solos in that tradition Hanneman/King style.

Haunting the Chapel sounds very close to Show No Mercy as far as its overall tone, the material could very well have appeared on the full length album. Still, it's a damn good example of their early work, when the band was groundbreaking and sinister and well worth a damn.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (captive of my vice)

http://www.slayer.net/