THKD’s Top 100 Metal Albums #20: Slayer – South of Heaven (Def Jam Recordings, 1988)

I’ll never forget the first time I heard Slayer. I was watching Headbanger’s Ball and the video for either the catchy yet sinister and atmospheric “Seasons in the Abyss” or the bulldozing face-fucker that is “War Ensemble” came on. Whichever track it was, my young mind was blown; it only took one song for me to realize Slayer was obviously waaay more evil than Metallica, Megadeth or Anthrax, whom I was already pretty familiar with and as a Catholic school kid growing up smack dab in the asshole of the Midwest, that was pretty much all it took for me to become instantly obsessed with The Big Four’s darkest, heaviest, meanest sounding band.

If memory serves, I used a Best Buy gift card that I’d gotten for Christmas to go out and buy Seasons in the Abyss and South of Heaven; I’m pretty sure that was all the old school Slayer they had. Although Seasons… is a great record that contains many classic tracks, it was South of Heaven that stuck with me and remains my favorite Slayer album to this very day.

Sure, Reign in Blood gets all the love, but let’s be honest, Reign in Blood should really be titled Angel of Death, Raining Blood and uh, Some Other Songs. I’m not saying it’s a bad record, but in terms of songwriting, atmosphere and evil-as-all-hell riffage, it absolutely pales in comparison to South of Heaven. Slayer took the template they established with “Angel of Death” and “Raining Blood” and made an entire album out of it. By slowing down and employing a more dynamic approach to their craft, the quartet unleashed a scathing yet memorable thrash attack that made many of their peers sound like Barney and Friends by comparison.

In the previous paragraph I mentioned evil-as-hell riffage and there can be no doubt much of South of Heaven‘s success lies at the feet of Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman. At this point in Slayer’s career, the duo were already working together like a well-oiled machine, throwing down with sick ‘n’ twisted riffs that propelled tracks such as “South of Heaven” “Live Undead” and “Mandatory Suicide” to instant classic status. As if the barrage of skull-smashing riffs wasn’t enough, the solos on South of Heaven are a whole other level of nasty; corrosive and utterly frenzied yet somehow still musical and more technically sound than on previous albums, ranking among the best in Slayer’s catalog.

Of course, great guitar-work needs a solid foundation and Satan blessed Slayer with a rhythm section that included metal drumming dark lord Dave Lombardo. The drums sound absolutely thunderous on South of Heaven and rightfully so, because Lombardo’s performance is fucking flawless. I can’t remember who’s interview I once read that likened a band’s drummer to the engine room of a ship, but that comparison couldn’t be more accurate here, as Lombardo powers the band through the album with a combination of ferociousness and technicality that’s off the damn charts. Tom Araya’s bass is somewhat buried in the mix, but his throat-shredding bark is a force to be reckoned with; he might not be a great singer from a technical standpoint, but his voice is instantly recognizable and he delivers the lyrics with a maniacal intensity that perfectly suits the dark subject matter.

As is no doubt the case with many other metal heads of my generation, Slayer was the ultimate gateway band for me and South of Heaven was one of the key releases that eventually set me on the path to the even darker, heavier realms of death and black metal. But the album is more than just a stepping stone, it’s a touchstone of late-eighties thrash at its most devastatingly diabolical that still manages to be catchier than COVID and a million times more deadly.

Read other entries in THKD’s Top 100 albums.

Body Count – Bloodlust (Century Media, 2017)

Back in 2014, Body Count emerged from eight years in the shadows with all guns blazing in the form of Manslaughter; one of the year’s best metal albums, not to mention one of the year’s biggest surprises.  It was a bludgeoning yet precise aural assault that deftly mixed mosh-ready riffage with lyrics that were by turns over-the-top violent, darkly humorous and delightfully un-PC.

Snapped Necks and Psycho Holidays: A Heavily Abridged People’s History of Groove Metal (1990 – 1999)

Among the heavy metal subgenres most likely to turn the average underground ‘head into a piping hot cup of haterade, groove metal (sometimes referred to as post-thrash, closely related to alternative metal and industrial metal) surely sits at or near the top of the list. Blamed for contributing to the death of thrash, the spawning of nu metal and for bringing scores of jock-strap-polishing meatheads into the scene (among other things), groove metal is quite possibly the most battered and beaten of the genre’s red-headed stepchildren. However, its most heinous crime in the eyes of most NWN! message board-dweller types is that it is a product of the nineties, that decade where everything went to shit for a legion of ’80s-worshipping metal miscreants, many of whom continue to dab at bitter tears with the unwashed corners of their patch vests while clutching at their Nihilist demo cassettes to this very day.

RIP Jeff Hanneman (1964 – 2013)

The first time I heard/saw Slayer was on Headbanger’s Ball.  It was either the video for the atmospheric yet pummeling “Seasons in the Abyss” or the flat-out face-fucking bulldozer that is “War Ensemble.”  I was just starting to get into heavy metal in those days, and Slayer blew me away with their intensity and darkness; they seemed way more evil than Megadeth or Metallica, which I was already quite familiar with, and in those days, especially being confined to Catholic school for seven hours a day, the more evil, the better.  It was love at first sight.  From there, I slowly started buying up Slayer’s back catalog with my meager allowance money, reveling in the Satanic-sounding, speed-demonomania that was their early career.

Blitzkrieg #7: Metal vs. Religion

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, metal gave me the strength to accept my budding Atheism during my youth.  I wish I could say there was some epiphanic moment that came late one night while listening to Reign in Blood, but the truth is that metal’s part in the formation of my beliefs was much more subtle.  Reflecting back on those times, I’ve come to realize that my Atheism manifested itself long before my love of metal did, and that metal only helped to cement those beliefs.

I went to Catholic school from kindergarten all the way up through my senior year of high school.  A lot of people still have some interesting ideas of what Catholic school is like, but I can assure you there were no draconian nuns in black lording over us with yardsticks and paddles, nor were we forced to go to church every day.  That doesn’t mean that the presence of the almighty didn’t loom over us on a daily basis.  We did have an extra period for religion class,  and although we didn’t go to church every day, there were still multiple opportunities to kneel before the saviour, any excuse to have a mass in the gymnasium or set up confessionals in the auditorium.

I tried my damnedest to believe.  I folded my hands, closed my eyes, drank the grape juice, ate the stale crackers (why does the body of Christ taste like cardboard and glue?), and none of it worked.  I participated willingly in the three c’s, communion, confirmation and confession, but felt no closer to any “God”.  For the longest time, I felt like there was something wrong with me, like I was the only one in the world that didn’t believe.  There was nothing I could do about it, no one I was comfortable talking to.  If there were others like me, they were keeping it well hidden.

Anthrax – Worship Music (Megaforce, 2011)

I’m a bit biased when it comes to Anthrax.  I was thirteen years old when the John Bush-fronted Sound of White Noise came out, and to this day it remains one of my all time favorite metal albums.  While that recording marked a darker, more serious turn for the New York-based quintet, I still began to think of them as the “fun” thrash band as I explored their back catalogue.  Here was a band that penned odes to Judge Dredd (“I Am the Law”) and Randall Flagg (“Among the Living”), covered new waver Joe Jackson (“Got the Time”), duetted with Chuck D (“Bring the Noise”) and even penned their own humorous take on rap metal (“I’m the Man”).  Can you imagine those stuffed shirts in Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer doing anything like that?  More than the other members of The Big Four, Anthrax struck me as the band that wasn’t afraid to follow their own muse and give the heavy metal rule book the finger.  There was (and still is) something genuinely endearing about their approach.

But it wasn’t easy to keep up with Anthrax after Sound of White Noise.  Stomp 442 and Volume 8 – The Threat is Real came and went, causing nary a blip on my metal radar, and I didn’t catch back up with the band until 2003’s We’ve Come for You All, a respectable album that seemed to signal a return to prominence.  What followed instead was an album of rushed sounding re-recordings (The Greater of Two Evils) and a slew of live and compilation releases, not exactly the best way to capitalize on a five year layoff between albums.  Then there was the infamous singer fiasco involving Bush, Joey Belladonna, Dan Nelson even Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor… it’s a wonder Neil Turbin didn’t get thrown in the mix at some point.  This, combined with a dearth of new material put Anthrax in danger of turning into a joke.

Fast forward to 2011 and Anthrax is anything but a punch-line.  Fully reunited with definitive vocalist Belladonna and riding a wave of renewed interest thanks to a slew of Big Four shows at various enormo-domes around the world, the band has unleashed Worship Music, their strongest album since Sound of White Noise and a damn fine slab of molten metal that recalls the strongest aspects of each era of the band while at the same time ushering the next phase of Anthrax’s musical evolution.

Nevermind the cello intro, because “Earth on Hell” is Worship Music‘s real opening track, a hammering declaration of badass-ness if ever there was one in the mold of classic Anthrax.  The band grabs you by the throat from the get-go and doesn’t let up for the song’s ferocious three minute and ten second duration.  Up next is “The Devil You Know”, another out-and-out banger that keeps the momentum going and is one of the catchiest tunes the band has ever written. I was skeptical of “Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t” when I first heard it, but I must say that the the band’s ode to the zombie apocalypse works great in the context of the album and sounds a hell of a lot better on CD than on the crappy YouTube clip that was making the rounds earlier this year.  After this trifecta of ripping tunes, Worship Music delves into groove-laden, mid-paced territory that recalls the John Bush era.  Many of these tracks, such as the epic “Judas Priest” the catchy/moody “Crawl” and the thrashy “The Giant” work extremely well, while “In The End” and “The Constant” come off as enjoyable but ultimately skippable filler.  The good on Worship Music far outweighs the bad and the album as a whole sounds surprisingly fresh in spite of its long gestation period.

As to be expected the musicianship throughout the album is top notch.  Charlie Benante has always been one of my favorite drummers, and he certainly doesn’t disappoint here, anchoring Anthrax’s rhythm section with the same pounding authority he has brought to the band since ’83. Scott Ian’s ultra-crunchy rhythm guitar is still the defining characteristic at the band’s core and if anything it sounds that much more crushing on Worship Music thanks to co-guitarist Rob Caggiano’s thoroughly modern but not overly slick production job.  Of course, the wild card in the Anthrax equation is Joey Belladonna, who hadn’t recorded with the band since 1990 prior to Worship Music.  Belladonna’s vocals sound fantastic here and although he doesn’t hit the piercing highs of the band’s back catalogue, it’s obvious that he hasn’t lost a bit of his range.  In fact, I’d argue that his voice is more full and commanding now than it was a decade ago.

And so there you have it.  Anthrax has returned to the fold with an album they can be proud of, an album that largely shits all over anything the other members of The Big Four have released in the past several years, and most importantly an album that long suffering fans such as myself can revel in.  By making the album they wanted to make and demonstrating full commitment to moving their music forward instead of pandering to Big Four/retro thrash nostalgia, they’ve proven that they’re still the band I loved as a teenager, marching to beat of their own slightly warped drummer. With Worship Music, Anthrax are back, bad and metal thrashing mad.

http://anthrax.com

THKD’s 10 Favorite American Metal Albums.

In honor of the Fourth of July, I thought it couldn’t hurt to add a little patriotic flare to THKD by celebrating my 10 favorite American metal albums. Remember, “favorite” doesn’t necessarily mean “best”, but I do believe that all of these albums are quintessential slabs of metallic americana. So, light your roman candles, fire up the barbecue, crack open a couple cold ones and enjoy THKD’s list of yankee metal dandies (in no particular order).

SLAYER/MEGADETH/TESTAMENT @ Roy Wilkins Auditorium 08/21/2010

My wife is a fucking trooper.  A day before we were set to leave for Minnesota to take in the American Carnage Tour, she threw her back out while doing housework.  I was ready to cancel our excursion altogether, but the lady of the house advised me that we were going “come hell or high water” (it should be noted that Megadeth is her favorite band), in spite of her extremely limited mobility.  A visit to the chiropractor (several inflamed discs is the diagnosis at this point) and some hefty painkiller and muscle relaxer prescriptions later, we were on the road headed north to the Twin Cities with Grandma’s spare wheelchair (graciously on loan) in the back of the car.

I got back to my seat from buying ridiculously overpriced but awesome Slayer and Megadeth tour shirts just as Testament were launching into “More Than Meets the Eye”.  I had been expecting the band to rely on older material given the nostalgic theme of the tour (Slayer playing Seasons in the Abyss in its entirety and Megadeth playing Rust in Peace), but they surprised me with a set that spanned from The New Order to The Formation of Damnation.  Although they were only alloted a meager eight songs, Testament sounded great and nicely summarized their career.  I was slightly bummed that they didn’t play “The Haunting”, but tracks like “DNR” and the crushing “The Formation of Damnation” were a great kickoff to the night.

Up next was Megadeth.  Although I’m not quite the Mustaine-obsessive that my wife is, I nonetheless count them among my favorite bands and was excited to be seeing them for the first time.  Megadeth did not screw around once they hit the stage, immediately launching into “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due” and preceding to rip through all forty-odd minutes of Rust in Peace with the precision of a well-oiled machine.  Personal highlights were “Hangar 18”, “Five Magics” and the mind-boggling “Lucretia” (possibly my favorite Megadeth song ever).  My only gripe was that there seemed to be problems with Mustaine’s vox during the set.  I’m not sure if it was the microphone/PA or an issue with his voice itself, but it didn’t deter from my enjoyment, since everyone knows Megadeth is all about the riffage.

There was a triumphant feeling in the air throughout Megadeth’s performance and Mustaine seemed to be truly enjoying himself.  It appears that he has finally put his many well-publicized demons to rest and can fully bask in the glow of his status as a goddamn heavy metal icon.  Few can argue with the status of Rust in Peace as a quintessential thrash album, and the celebratory vibe emanating from the band was utterly infectious.  After completing the Rust… portion of the set, the band aired some gems from their back catalogue such as “Trust”, “Symphony of Destruction” and “A Tout Le Monde” before closing with a devastating rendition of “Peace Sells” which climaxed with a reprise of “Holy Wars…”.  Indeed, with the newfound camaraderie amongst “The Big Four” these days, it feels like everything has come full circle for Mustaine, and Megadeth’s set reflected this in spades.

After an intro complete with multiple logos and pentagrams projected on a large curtain, the men of Slayer appeared.  The band bulldozed through “Hate Worldwide” and the title track from World Painted Blood before kicking things into high gear with “War Ensemble”, signaling the beginning of Seasons in the Abyss.  Seasons… was the first Slayer album I ever bought, so it was interesting to hear tracks like “Expendable Youth” and “Hallowed Point” in a live setting, especially since the last time I saw Slayer was around 2002 and the set back then focused heavily on God Hates Us All and more of a “greatest hits” type performance.  I wondered how long it had been since Slayer played some of those Seasons… tracks and how much time they spent re-learning and rehearsing them (I suppose the same could be said about Megadeth and Rust in Peace, at least from Dave Mustaine and Dave Ellefson’s perspectives).

We were on Kerry King’s side of the stage, which is rather ironic considering how much my wife hates Kerry King’s guitar solos.  I don’t think the guy is a virtuoso by any means, but I do think his solos reflect the intensity and frenzy of Slayer’s musical and lyrical approach, while not being conventionally “musical”.  They don’t necessarily compliment the song, they’re more like a sonic carpet-bombing in the middle of the song that adds another highly visceral texture or facet to Slayer’s attack.  Of course, the fact that he looks like a professional wrestler grappling with the instrument doesn’t hurt things either.  I enjoyed watching him do his thing.

The rest of the band was in fine form… is there a better thrash drummer than Dave Lombardo?!  Tom Araya sounded great with no evidence of the medical problems that seem to have plagued him over last few years (aside from a lack of headbanging) and Jeff Hanneman brought the riffs, albeit in a slightly more demure fashion than King.  Although the band members have visibly aged, Slayer’s sound is frozen in time, the cryogenically preserved lifeblood from which today’s thrash is forged.  I’d imagine you could compare Saturday’s performance to one from 1990 and find that they are nearly identical in intensity and sonics.

Metalheads are nothing if not nostalgic (sometimes to a fault), and this night was all about “back in the day”.  It showed that great metal albums can endure and stand the test of time, even in this age of music as a disposable commodity.  It was a celebration and a history lesson, an exemplification of some of the very best American metal has to offer.  Why bother with all the nu jack thrash out there when the guys that invented that shit are still out there killing it?

[note: Sorry for the crappy iPhone pics, but to be honest I wasn’t sure whether I was going to do a write-up on the show or not and therefore neglected to bring a “real” camera.  We were actually a lot closer than it looks.]

The Big Four Invade… Bulgaria?!

So… when is this tour happening in the US?

I Was A Teenage Metalhead.

Okay, so a couple of folks have asked me to write something about how I got into heavy metal. Well, let me start by saying it wasn’t easy to do, being trapped in the bowels of the Midwest. Furthermore I’m only 30, which means I was way too young to get caught up in the ’80s glory days of tape trading (I was 8 years old when Nihilist released their first demo, about 4 when Death released theirs) and too old to have had the internet readily available to me at a young age (we did however, have some sweet Apple computers at school that you could play Oregon Trail on). There were very few outlets for discovering metal available to someone growing up when and where I did. I think it started with classic rock. It might not have been easy to catch an underground metal show in central Iowa, but it was easy to turn on the radio and hear Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Steppenwolf, Kiss, etc… the building blocks of heavy metal. I always gravitated towards the heavier side of classic rock, so metal was a natural progression.

And I discovered metal through MTV. This might sound like a completely ridiculous notion now, but back then MTV actually had something to do with music and didn’t constantly show programs about knocked up trailer park dwellers, morbidly obese high schoolers who want to be dancers and cheerleaders only to fail miserably, and more sexually confused 20-somethings than you can shake a stick at (take that how you will). It was Metallica’s video for “One” that hit me like a sledgehammer to the skull. I caught it while randomly flipping channels one day after school. It was one of those moments of “This is the music I’ve been waiting my whole life to hear.”. The dynamics, the guitar tone, the machine-gun drums, everything about that song was perfect. It blew all the hair metal MTV had been playing at the time out of the water. Metallica weren’t a bunch of preening tarts like Poison, they were genuine bad asses with a dark, heavy sound that matched their black-clad image. Of course, it was all downhill from there…

Slayer – World Painted Blood

It’s no secret that I didn’t particularly care for Slayer’s last album, Christ Illusion.  I think I might have listened to the fucking thing twice before letting it languish in my collection for all eternity.  Of course, bear in mind that it came out during the summer of 2006 while I was interning for Metal Blade and being bombarded with cool new music on an almost daily basis (they put out new albums from Goatwhore, Amon Amarth, Gaza and God Dethroned while I was there, just to name a few), but the songs on Christ Illusion just didn’t seem to have any sort of staying power or memorability.