Slayer - South of Heaven

List Price: $28.98
Our Price: $11.89
You Save: $17.09 (59%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.98 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases

Music CD Cover

Free Music Notes for South of Heaven

Free Music Review: Thrash done right
Hit: 5 Stars

This album is a good example of why it's so stupid that people associate thrash with being very fast. Sure, most thrash is fast, but thats hardly it's defining trait.(and most metal is fast anyway) And, no, this album really isn't as slow as it's made out to be, but it definitely leans toward the middle tempos most of the time. But it's still about as thrash as it gets, with the choppy, incessant rhythm guitars, straight-forward, pounding drums, semi-harsh vocals and almost completely inaudible bass. Araya gives a real nice performance here.(on vox anyway) He was a bit over dramatic on RiB, but he holds back a bit here, giving it more menace and none of the occasional silliness of that album. He's more subtle and varied than lots of people give him credit for, with an excellent use of a droning monotone to contrast with his more vicious shout-singing and piercing screams. This is where Lombardo really proved how great he is. In the interceding 17 years metal drummers have gotten pretty insane, largely due to the example Lombardo set, but he still holds up, and is one of the funnest drummers to listen to. He seems to understand that the key to interesting thrash drumming are good fills, and he does nothing but good ones here. I've never been that big of a fan of King/Hanneman's leads, but they've grown on me a bit, and are definitely better here than on RiB. That, and this album is more evocative and moody, so the anti-melodic, screaming leads fit in better. Still, all thrash comes down to the rhythm guitar, and they've always done that great. They're very nicely varied here, with lots of doomy atmosphere on the the title track, Live Undead and Spill the Blood mixed with some crushing speed riffs on Silent Scream and Ghosts of War.(and pretty much everything in between is found here, somewhere)

Ghosts of War has got to be the most underrated Slayer song, and is probably my favorite track of theirs. Their best chorus, furious riffing and an absolutely powerhouse performance from Dave. The title track is probably the second best thing here. Very moody and dramatic, with a great slow build up so that it really explodes when it finally comes alive. Araya gives an especially intense performance on that one. The rest of the war trilogy in the middle is excellent. I'm especially fond of Mandatory Suicide. The ending is quite creepy, with the spoken-word part coming in under the squealing and shrieking leads. The weakest thing here is probably the Judas Priest cover, but it's still alright, and isn't quite like anything else here.(and thus earns it's place.) Overall it's pretty consistent. Nothing that is obviously just filler.

So, no this album isn't as brutalizing or as important as Reign in Blood, but it's still a notch above it in my book.(and if you really want some deadly thrash, you should check out Darkness Descends by Dark Angel, which simply flattens RiB) If you like thrash you already own this album. If you don't know about thrash, you may wanna check out some early Metallica or Anthrax first, as it is a bit less theatrical. (which tends to turn some people off, at least initially)

South of Heaven Poster

Hard Rock & Metal Music CDs

• Music > Styles
• Pop
• Rock