Metal Reviews

Whenever I check, Slayer albums all seem to be price very high. Well, except for that album of punk covers they did, which ain't exactly Seasons In The Abyss, is it?

Don't you love it when someone says just what you were thinking?

I got South of Heaven second hand for £6 last week. But otherwise, ya rly, they are one of the bands whose albums never seem to benefit from random drops in price.

Bah, you get all the bargains. Must be some good shops up your way...

Just one.

Well, ok, two but the first one is better.

Slayer is one of those bands that will always get a ton of critical praise and fanfare just so long as they don't release a folk-country album. Love or hate God Hates Us All (I'm in the very middle of the two camps), the album got quite a bit of critical acclaim from the metal press. More for being "the next Slayer Record!!!!" than for being "a great record."

Anyway, here's my retrospective of the band:

Reign In Blood - Classic! One of the best metal albums of the 80s.

South Of Heaven - Another classic! Slower and more groove-oriented, but also more musically mature than RIB.

Seasons In The Abyss - The greatest heavy metal album of all time. Nuff said.

Divine Intervention - Takes a few listens to really get into. The guitar tunings are kind of weird (a bit higher than most Slayer records). And the songs have a decidedly "bland" sound. There was a period where I loved this album and listened to it every week. But, as it stands, it's actually been more than a year since I listened to it.

Undisputed Attitude - Only heard one song (Gemini) and think it's good but pretty overrated.

Diabolus In Musica - I don't care what anybody else says. I like this album. Better than Divine Intervention, in fact. Yeah, it's slightly more punk/nu-metal inspired. But who cares? This is good, solid, modern groove/thrash/industrial/nu metal. Bitter Peace, Perversions of Pain, and Scum are three of my favorite Slayer songs.

God Hates Us All - I liked this album for a while, but as my musical tastes matured, it got old rather fast. The lyrics are among Slayer's worst (Come on, "Can't Stop The Violence!!! I Love It!!!!"???). The aggression is very forced. And Tom's screams are almost laughable. Some of the actual music, though, is pretty good. Particularly on God Send Death, Here Comes The Pain, Deviance and New Faith. Seven Faces, meanwhile, has to be one of the worst songs Slayer has ever written.

The remaining Slayer albums I haven't really listened to (yet). So overall, the new album seems promising. But I don't really expect to be blown away.

Hypocritically, Kerry King once proclaimed nu-metal "Dead and Gone" in a 2003 interview. Ironically, just two years earlier, he stated in a Guitar World interview that he's a big fan of bands like Disturbed and Linkin Park and wants to implement whatever made them popular into Slayer's music. :roll:

Right, don't get the punk covers album-I bought it and sold it (for a higher price, mwuahahahaha) because it's shite.

Reign in Blood, Seasons in the Abyss and South of Heaven are worth the money. I think that in Music Zone (as you all know, where I go when I have 7 or 8 quid spare) the double live disc is cheap. Show No Mercy is essential aswell.

Then again, I only have Reign in Blood. I will buy the other 3 essentials, but I do know the albums very well anyway thanks to mp3s.

Trouble is, I think MusicZone prices vary from place to place. Although there does seem to be a lot of £7 priced stuff, I've got my eye on some early Carcass...

Haha, they've been watching me from the shop shelves, but I've not heard anything, so I'm staying away.

Can you get darksoul7? They're on there, just request some...

www.darksoul7.net

She's changed her password again, or I'd have already checked it out. Doesn't matter I think one of my friends has Symphonies of Sickness and Reek anyway.

Well there ya go. Just nick it off him next time you're there. I'd start with SOS, though...

Not the biggest Slayer fan out there, probably followed them more in the 90's. I have Reign In Blood, Seasons In The Abyss, Divine Intervention and Diabolus In Musica.
RIB didnt really do it for me, while SITA was awesome. DI was alright while i enjoyed DIM.
I'm hoping for something like a cross between SITA and DIM

Anyone know when the new album is meant to be released?

its unknown when the album will be released but according to an interview mr. king did, he said he wanted it out on june 6. 6 month 6 day 2006, but he said that will not happen. but they want to release an EP at the end of june or sometime in june.

Do you hate anything?

Black metal.

Damn...You!!!

As always, you're a good guy, but always a few steps away from being a TROO metal maniac!

If i were you, i'd purchase Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits(and Haunting the Chapell), after selling God Hates Us All and Diabolus in Musica to a Slipknot fanboy.

The thing i hate about Hell Awaits is the crappy production. The vocals sound like they were recorded in the toilet....terrible.

It got better with South Of Heaven

I had another intense listen to God Hates Us All. I didnt really like it back when i gave it my first listen, soon after it came out. My metal tastes had changed at that time so it didnt really grab me as it used to.
But now i seem to like it more, strange. Also listened to Divine Intervention again. I just love the start of Killing Fields....best start to a song ever...hmm, actually, best start to a Slayer song

South of Heaven sounds like it was recorded inside a tin can, to these ears at least. Still a great album.