UMUR "South of Heaven" is the fourth full-length studio album by US, California based thrash metal act Slayer. The album was released through Def Jam Recordings in July 1988. It´s the successor to "Reign in Blood" from 1986 and like the predecessor "South of Heaven" was also produced by Rick Rubin. Following up an album like "Reign in Blood (1986)", which was an instant classic upon release and greatly boosted Slayer´s profile on the scene, was always going to be difficult if not downright impossible, so Slayer had discussions among themselves about where to go from there and they made a conscious decision not to make "Reign in Blood" part 2.

So while "South of Heaven" sounds unmistakably like Slayer, it´s a completely different sounding album to its direct predecessor. "South of Heaven" features a less heavy, raw, and abrasive sounding production to it´s predecessor, but the less savage power also means the sound production on "South of Heaven" is more clear and detailed than the sound production on "Reign in Blood". It´s just a completely different listening experience, and it´s understandable why some fans felt that "South of Heaven" packed a lot less punch than what they were used to hearing from Slayer.

It´s not only the sound production which makes "South of Heaven" different from the preceding Slayer releases, the songwriting is also quite different. The tracks are more varied, there are hints of melody (even some clean guitars on closing track "Spill the Blood"), and lead vocalist/bassist Tom Araya even sings a few lines in addition to his usual raw shouted vocals. Of course Slayer is still Slayer, and you won´t find any sweet lullabies or mainstream tendencies on "South of Heaven", which is still a highly aggressive, furiously fast-paced, and brutal thrash metal release.

Slayer haven´t scaled down on their controversial lyrics either, and right from the opening title track the listener is treated to anti-christian lyrics, and other subjects on the album include murder, violence and war. Highlights include the title track, "Mandatory Suicide", and "Silent Scream", but some of my personal favorites are "Behind the Crooked Cross" (about soldiers forced to fight for the Nazis during world war II), "Read Between the Lies", and the absolutely brilliant "Live Undead". The latter features a head scratching number of trade-off guitar solos, tempo changes, and riffs. Crazy track that one...

...I always felt the cover of "Dissident Aggressor" by Judas Priest was the least interesting track on the album, but I´ve come to appreciate even that song over the years. Performance wise Slayer are a force to be reckoned with. Fast-paced thrash riffs (and heavy ones too), blistering screaming guitar solos, great powerful and organic drumming by Dave Lombardo, and the distinct sounding and unique raw vocals by Araya in front. At this point they were an incredibly tight playing unit and very few contemporaries were able to match their level of intensity and extremity, while still producing memorable material. Because that is one of Slayer´s greatest assets. Producing really extreme music that you are still able to remember and scream along to.

So while "South of Heaven" is probably the least extreme Slayer album (along with the debut album, which also features hints of melody), it still packs a punch and sounds unmistakably like Slayer. It´s an incredibly bold release considering how relatively different it sounds to "Reign in Blood", and they could have risked that their fans had turned their backs on them, but that´s not at all what happened. Instead the fans embraced the new sound, or at least grew to appreciate it and respect the fact that Slayer did not want to stagnate, and it ultimately enabled Slayer to continue to further build upon their already considerable high level of artistic and commercial success. A 5 star (100%) rating is fully deserved.

SilentScream213 Divine Intervention has remained not only my favorite slayer album, but my favorite album of all time since I heard it in my freshman year of high school, 2010. Not that it immediately became my favorite album upon first listen – no, this is a slow grower, but a very easy album to come back to. And come back to it I did, many times; I’m sure this is in my top 10 most listened albums of all time, and a certain contender for the #1 spot.

But, why Divine Intervention?

Why the album AFTER Slayer stopped being the greatest Thrash band in the world? After the lineup change and the death of metal in the 90’s? The album with troubled production and almost no live representation?

Quite frankly, because I don’t give a damn about any of that stuff.

I speak with utmost sincerity when I say I think this album is absolutely as great in every department as the 5 preceding it. The only exception being that the production is lower quality, but you know what? That higher class sheen on Seasons in the Abyss never did it for me as much as the raw, honest sound that we get here. The complaints about the production quality are completely unfounded if one enjoys Show No Mercy, or Kill ‘Em All, or basically any Black Metal.

With sufficient clarity on why none of this album’s “weaknesses” bother me, let me now express why I love it so much.

The mood. The atmosphere. The writing. Slayer were always that too evil band that were somehow mainstream. From day one they were writing about Satan, demons and infernal hellfire, and they remained consistent in that approach throughout the 80’s, with growing themes of real horrors as well, including war and mental illness. However, on Divine Intervention, hell froze over. The hell fire faded and the demons gave way to a much more terrifying being – humanity. Strongly influenced by literature about serial killers as well as newspaper articles, Tom Araya took a stronger writing role here and focused almost exclusively on real world evil and suffering. Songs took a deeper look into the psych of serial killers, criminals, and even drug abuse on the closing “Mind Control.” The riffs followed suit, and as such, this album isn’t as flashy as their previous material, and I think that gets lost on a lot of people. The riffs here are cold and calculated, evoking sincere darkness and an unrelenting bleakness that remains consistent throughout the entire album.

Which leads to an immense strength of this album; the songwriting. Hints of Tech Thrash break through in many of the tracks here, with less conventional rhythms courtesy of Paul Bostaph taking the songs into twisting territory that deviates far from their simpler punk roots. The guitar solos on this album are actually good, and more often than not add to the song with more thoughtful melodies as opposed to pure chaos. The title track and closing track both have perhaps the best solos by the band, and truly these songs felt like they had gained a level of maturity and depth in their structure. Tom’s vocals are also the most aggressive, manic and eclectic he has ever laid to record; in title track “Divine Intervention” he pushes his yelling to its limit, and haunting “Serenity in Murder” allows his lower registry to croon wickedly between more thrash roars. Divine Intervention could easily be argued to be Slayer’s heaviest album, which cannot be said for most metal releases from bands that were “declining” in the 90’s.

At the risk of sounding crazy, I’ll also confess that the insanely dark lyricism and mood on this album, particularly on tracks like “Killing Fields,” were immensely helpful for me emotionally. Since I discovered it, Metal has always been an extremely cathartic way for me to deal with negative emotions. Divine Intervention did that better than any other album I’d heard, and still remains one of my weapons of choice when I need it. People don’t usually label Slayer as being emotional music, but they probably forget that anger is an emotion. Some people have their OK Computers, some people have their Dark Side of the Moons, and I’ve got my Divine Intervention.

SilentScream213 South of Heaven was my first favorite album. The first one I ever listened to while thinking “god damn, this is music for me.” I had never heard sincerely dark or heavy music before that, and I never looked back.

It all started with my first videogame, DOOM. I played that game when I was just 2 years old – I worked the gun while my father did everything else, but it was still an incredibly memorable experience that was burned into my memory. I didn’t play the game for a long span of time because we had to get rid of it after Columbine happened, and then it became kind of a pipe dream to be able to play it again.

It was actually right as I was entering public school in 8th grade (I was homeschooled prior) that we managed to get the game again. Man that was a triumphant moment, and the game was just as great as I remembered. However, one thing that struck me was the music – holy hell, that music kicked ass.

I wasn’t even into music yet at this age. I listened to The Beatles, I listened to whatever the parents had, and I didn’t really listen too intently. I didn’t even know what metal really was, other than hearsay. But I LOVED this game’s music. I went to shady websites to download mp3s of the game tracks, and naturally, I started reading up about it more. Well it turns out a ton of the tracks are based on real songs by real bands – all metal bands I had never heard of save Metallica. I had to get this stuff.

I actually downloaded all of the original songs without listening to any of them first, bought my first mp3 player, and then listened to them all at once. It was a rite of passage of sorts. I loved everything I heard, even the gruff stuff like Pantera, who’s vocals were too much for me but the riffs were good enough to get through it. This new form of dark, aggressive music was striking all my chords, even though I had no experience with it. But at the end of the list – as the bands were in alphabetical order and there were only 10 or so – was Slayer.

Slayer hit different.

The three songs from DOOM were “South of Heaven” “Silent Scream” and “Behind the Crooked Cross” and they instantly became my favorite songs (barring “The Long and Winding Road, which will never not be one of the most beautiful songs ever). Such condensed aggression and evil had never struck me in aural form like that before. I mean, even Pantera, who were just as heavy, didn’t sound nearly as dark and evil as this. And the lyrics! Holy hell, they were actually disturbing at that age. A song about abortion – what the hell was that. And I loved them.

Finding that the songs were all from the same album, I got it immediately – digitally, physically, everything. I didn’t even know what riffs were before this! This was insane to me. The whole album was just as good as the few songs I’d heard. I easily listened to it at least once everyday for probably the rest of that school semester. And it ended up being really important in me finding my identity in a crucial period of life – I now knew that metal was my passion. I knew what kind of music I liked, I could talk about it, I met people through it, and I searched for more.

The funny thing is, though Slayer remains my favorite band, their other material didn’t click with me at first. Turns out this album was Slayer at their slowest and most melodic; if I started with any other album, I may not have been infected so easily. But yes, it was South of Heaven that turned me into a full-time metalhead, and it was the first album I could confidently say was my favorite. Listening to it while writing this review, I’m not surprised in the slightest that it gives me the same feeling of intense bliss as it did nearly 10 years ago, still comfortably sitting among my favorite albums of all time.

SilentScream213 Slayer were never holding punches, but Angel of Death is the most face ripping opener maybe ever. It just shreds you for five minutes straight, everyone hitting you at full overdrive. The guitars are either striking with lightning quick rhythmic tremolos or screaming solos, the drums are at a constant full-speed pummel, and Tom's shouting, no longer muddled by reverb or any other effects, tears your skin off word after venomous word. And those lyrics are absolutely insane - Slayer were always dark, but god damn, they took a level in real evil here, especially as Tom started writing more.

And then Angel of Death ends, and every single song following is more of the same eviscerating insanity, consistently delivering riff after riff without letting up an inch. All concluding with one of the most evil, intense, and infamous closers of all time. Surely I don't need to say its name.

SilentScream213 When Slayer’s debut album rose from Hell in 1983, there was really nothing like it, and it sat comfortably atop the heaviest, fastest, most evil records in the world. Times had changed, and for metal, that meant pushing boundaries. Many bands heard Slayer and those who didn’t try to do exactly what they did, tried to up the ante.

So when Slayer went to record their sophomore album, they didn’t create Show No Mercy vol. 2. They had been listening to Mercyful Fate, and were inspired to create more complex song structures, longer and more varied compositions. However, they would sacrifice none of their brutality in doing this. The complex song structures allowed them to capitalize on their ability to create a truly evil, infernal mood; this is captured best on the opener “Hell Awaits,” with its backwards chanting and plentiful midtempo sections between the assaults of speed. Dave employs double bass drumming on every track, rather than occasional bursts. Tom’s bark, while definitely solid on the debut, was perfected here. He rattled off vicious lines at a speed unheard of, and despite pushing his vocal chords to their aggressive limits, remained intelligible the whole time. For me, this is the Slayer album that actually took the longest to love, but that’s a testament to the depth and timelessness of the album itself.

Slayer didn’t exactly invent a new genre with this album, but despite the Thrash label, it was more important to the development of Death Metal than anything. Slayer abandoned most of their punk roots here (Though they’d bring them back for the next album) and the sound is unmistakably darker. Possessed’s Seven Churches is awarded the title of first Death Metal album, but it’s a short step from Hell Awaits, and had death growls been employed here, the music would sound right at home on a pure Death Metal record.