You are correct that the song is not trying to glorify the holocaust. Quite the opposite actually. The song is a portrait of the horror of the angel of death and the holocaust. The song is brutal and genius.
'Angel of death' is not about religion but the lyrics are controversial... It's about Dr. Jozef Mengele, the infamous German nazi doctor and SS officer (nicknamed 'the angel of death') who performed inhumane experiments on Jewish detainees during World War II... Methods of torture and death included gas chambers and forced surgeries... Mengele excaped justice by fleeing to South America in 1949... He reportedly died in 1979 after suffering a heart attack and drowning. Producer Rick Rubin had signed Slayer to his Def Jam label in 1986 but his distributor Columbia Records were so enraged by 'Angel of death' being about a nazi doctor that they refused to release the Slayer album 'Reign in blood'... Of course, metal fans heard about the controversy and bought thousands of copies of 'Reign in blood' when Def Jam released the album via independent distributors...
Jeff's dad was one of the soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-DAY. they would take the medals off of dead nazi soldiers as a way to show them "disrespect". Jeff's dad would show him the medals he brought home & they always conversed about his military/war times. when his dad died, he left all of his stuff to Jeff & as a way to honor his dad, when he found nazi medals, he would get em. SLAYER ain't white supremacists, the singer/bassist is from Chile, South America & their drummer is from Cuba. SLAYER ain't satanic, they use horror movie/novel themes for the sole purpose of scaring uptight "conservatives" . look at it as "horror music".
mom finally understood metal when i explained to her that it's just like jumping out of an airplane, climbing a mountain, or riding a roller coaster. it's all about the adrenalin. metal is for going to the gym, or running, or mowing the grass. other music is for other moods and other activities.
It's always hilarious to me that not one of these hip hop fans ever recognizes it. When ITANOMTHUB came out in 1988 my friends and I all fell over ourselves the first time we heard She Watch Channel Zero. Not only is it a fantastic song, they fucking sampled SLAYER! The hardest, fastest most thrashin' thrash band of all, the most metal music that had ever been created, was on the dopest hip hop album ever created! I don't think that the kids today who are into hip hop & rap really delve into the history of their favorite music, tho. They should; there's a lot of great music that was released back in the day.
Thank you! For being sincere, honest, comprehensive. For giving your perspective and your experience. The online research you did and the appreciation of the musicianship. I had so much fun watch your reactions!
ICE T'S FAVORITE BAND , HIS CUZ PLAYED HIM SLAYER AND THAT WAS IT .. HIS CUZ ALSO PLAYS GUITAR . YEP T STARTED HIS OWN THRASH METAL BAND AND THEY DO COVER SOME SLAYER MATERIAL INCLUDING RAINING BLOOD... THIS SONG IS ABOUT JOSEF MENGLE WORLD WAR 2 NAZI DR WHO WAS CALLED THE ANGEL OF DEATH.....
Don't go to hard on the kid. Hes learning. Always read the lyrics in metal. The song is about the atrocities of the Holocaust. Angel of death was Mengels nickname.
This song is just a unique way of introducing a vaguely known monster from history. The band Venom did a song about countess Bathory, another monster of history.
"I know why people misinterpret it. It's because they get this knee-jerk reaction to it. When they read the lyrics, there's nothing I put in the lyrics that says, necessarily, that he was a bad man. Because, to me, well, isn't that obvious? I should not have to tell you that." - Jeff Hanneman on 'Angel of Death' - RIP, Jeff! You will never be forgotten!!
The middle guitar part is used in Public Enemy's song, She Watch Channel Zero!!! Go back and listen to Public Enemy's song and you'll hear it throughout the whole song!!!
Te tomaste tu tiempo para explicar esta letra,m encantó,tengo 55años y escucho Slayer de los 16,tu comentario fue el mejor de todos los q escuché, aguante Slayer por siempre,saludos de Caballito Buenos Aires
In most songs like these, the lyrics aren't endorsements, they're just stories. And in cases like this, the lyrics are just painting a picture from the story and bringing some kind of understanding and awareness to how dark the world can be.
I'm a proud Christian Slayer fan, it's all just music and fun at the end of the day! And slayer touches on some real topics and ideas that have the potential to expand one's mind and knowledge if thought about in a healthy emotional state.
I'm always conflicted listening to this song, having lost most of my family in the holocaust. I know it's a retelling of history, not a glorification of it; it's educational just as it is metal, but it is painful to listen to for personal reasons. That doesn't detract from it's power though. I've often fallen asleep to Cradle of Filth, so the Slayer thing isn't weird to me. Maybe a little because I can't fall asleep to anything I can sing along with. The more words I know, I'll just stay up singing along, but Cradle... I know a couple of lines here, a few there, but it's the music. Heavy as it is, many of their songs are composed like lullaby's in a way. There are these swooning sections that make you sway along and it's genuinely peaceful (in my humble opinion). Even when I'm full on headbanging to it; I feel content. Check out some of their stuff. I'd start where I started, with the "Dusk and Her Embrace" & "Cruelty and the Beast" albums (which I still think is their magnum opus). It's a concept album about the Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory. I've always been a metalhead, but I wasn't into black or death metal much (in 1996 - 97). I was in a metal band at the time and got exposed to COF. I hated the vocals at first, but I loved the music so much that I stuck with it. Then, (as a writer) I was curious as to what the lyrics were, and Dani Filth (lead vocalist) is nothing shy of "masterful" at his craft. That's when I began hearing his voice as an instrument rather than just aggressiveness, it ebbs and flows with the music and the storytelling is epic. A handful of songs to wet your whistle. from a couple of their earlier albums (which were remastered a few years ago). I'm intentionally leaving out a couple of "ballads" that are very popular because it'll give you a false sense of the band as a whole. I was already a fan by the time those songs came out, perhaps you will be too. "A Gothic Romance (Red Roses for the devil's whore)", "Thirteen Autumns and a Window", "Malice Through the Looking Glass", "Bathory Aria: Benighted Like Usher / A Murder of Ravens in Fugue / Eyes the Witnessed Madness" (yes, that's one song, in three parts) and my personal favorite song of theirs: "Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids". If you're going to stand in front of the rabbit hole... you might as well go down it. 😉😎🤘
Slayer is the og of thrash. An album that doesn't get alot of love from us diehards but I actually love is their grooviest,south of heaven. Start to finish is well written but slower than most. However it's writing from lyrics to music it's a master piece.
You are absolutely on the money about the comparison between thrash and gangster rap. They're telling stories through the music and some of those are informed by reality. Metal has always been accused of being satanic and while that is true in some aspects (black metal bands like Dimmu Borgir) there are a ton of bands that use brutal imagery to tell stories. The vocalist for Cannibal Corpse is literally nicknamed Corpsegrinder but his hobby is to go win dolls in claw machines and give them away. Art doesn't always reflect the artist. If you're interested in looking into Death Metal (like thrash but darker and harder hitting) I'd say check out Suffocation. There's also Bodycount which is Ice-T's metal band. Not quite thrash or death metal but it's cool as fuck.
Good reaction and deep discussion!! Just FYI, Jeff Hanneman wasn’t a Nazi. He was fascinated with the history since his grandfather was in the German military in WWII. He collected historical artifacts from WWII, mainly Nazi related objects, which is something that countless people with an interest in history do. It’s not like he was buying newly-made Swastika flags from actual Nazis.
This is a history lesson most of all. Slayer like to sing about the dark side of life but some of the members are Christian. Slayer are not bad people but some of their fans are a bit crazy. So it is the fans that give Slayer a bad rap. Slayer wrote a song called repentless. It is about them being unapologetic about their music. No matter what side Slayer are on, they had to know this would be controversial and they thrived on this IMO. Just like Cop K***er by Ice T and Body Count and F the Police by NWA. lead singer Tom said we are not glorifying it. We just thought it would be cool for a song. Do we hate on people who make war movies which include the holocaust. Some people don't even think the holocaust ever happened. We can't change it or pretend bad things in history never happened. Slayer are not for everyone but they are one of the most influential metal acts of all time. We like metal because they are not afraid to sing about difficult topics. Beats Crappy pop and rap artists these days. Pop and Rap was much better back in the day. Well most music was. Even metal is not what it used to be and Slayer would be banned If they put out the album Reign in Blood today. Glad you liked it.
Anyone who can see this as song as glorifying the Holocaust didn’t even take the time to read the lyrics. Words like “sadistic,” “infamous butcher,” “harmless victims,” none of that is positive.
Bro, a lot of thrash lyrics talk about a variety of subjects. Like politics, warfare, religion, addiction, suicide, murder, injustice, isolation, corruption, alienation, and other stuff. They often use sarcasm and humor in their lyrics. It’s not all about the devil.
That's why i love thrash more than all other genres of metal. A lot of it is lyrically, really heavy stuff, and the rest is just about getting wasted, horror movies, and partying.
Kerry King and Jeff Haneman are Atheist but Tom Araya(the vocals) is outwardly Christian. Not sure about the drummers. And Tom Arayas family migrated here from Chile when he was 5 yrs old and Dave Lombardo(drums) is from Cuba so that Nazi crap is out the window. You should read the lyrics of Megadeth closer, Testament being another but thrash is (with a few exceptions) is very much against the things they sing about, Thrash was about anti government control, counter-culture, more or less and evolved form of punk. After you study Thrash for awhile youll see what its about, primarily Freedom.
Thrash metal was born as a grassroots form of music and it succeeded against all odds... the same way rock n' roll music was created in the deep south by struggling folks who played guitar and piano and wanted to sway listeners. These forms of music were not conjured by major corporations and rich folks looking to mass-produce and sell a product (but that did come later when the trends came their way 😂) These were kids who were hard-wired and picked up guitars to create noise and headbang ... and they wanted to be faster and heavier than the bands that came before them... Slayer were teenagers when they formed the band in 1981 and they were broke for years before their career started to take off after 1986... and they were part of the West Coast scene w/ bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Death Angel, Testament, etc. These bands were never taken seriously by the music industry and relied on indie labels to release their music. But when the record sales began to rise for thrash metal bands in the late 80's, the record labels were intrigued and realized that there was a huge market for them to open up an access... Thrash metal bands started cropping up everywhere, from Canada to the UK to Germany and even South America... and records started pouring into the market. By 1990, Metallica had a 2x platinum record 'And justice for all'...and made MTV for the first time in 1989... Megadeth and Anthrax had been on MTV since 1986/ '87 and had gold selling records... and Slayer were poised to be on MTV in 1990/ '91 as well... MTV had the show 'Headbangers Ball' and they promoted all the thrash and extreme metal bands like Voivod, Exodus, Kreator, Annihilator, Suicidal Tendencies, etc. Unfortunately, the market became oversaturated by 1992 w/ so many generic bands that weren't as good as the original bands that the thrash metal scene went into decline... It didn't help when Metallica's 1991 'black' album crossed over into pop record sales of millions and other bands wanted to soften their sound and cross over as well... but failed in their attempts. By the mid-90's, thrash metal had become irrelevant and most of the bands either broke up or disappeared from public view... Only Pantera kept the extreme metal sound alive during the 90's decade while bands like Anthrax, Slayer, Kreator, etc. struggled to sell records. As far as collecting nazi memorabilia, (the late) Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead was an avid collector of war souvenirs and had quite a few of them in his possession... but it was not to glorify nazism or support their cause. It was more like trophies collected by the victors after vanquishing their enemies (the nazis in this case) in World War II... Lemmy strongly iterated that he was not a racist or a nazi sympathizer - he simply collected historical artifacts of past wars. Jonathan Davis (lead singer of KoRn) said he had a fascination w/ serial killers and even bought the infamous Volkswagon car that Ted Bundy owned, which he used to stalk and kill women with... He eventually sold it claiming it had 'bad vibes'... But nobody accused him of being an advocate for serial killers. It's merely a fascination w/ the evil that some men (and women) are capable of.
I've listened to Slayer since the 90's. However, it's like Emenem to me. I can appreciate GOATs, technicality, skill, etc., but I can't just chill to it all the time. It's music chosen for a mood like the gym or 2pm lull in the day. My anxiety can't handle an overdose. That's just me but when I need some Slayer, I know what to pick!
Check out next from Slayer.. Mandatory Suicide from the live dvd Still Ringing and from their album Seasons in the Abyss the song War Ensemble (the official video).. Both songs about war
The scream by Tom Araya at the beginning was actually a first take, they tried other takes but didn't match up to that one. Also, this song is the only recorded use of the word "abacinate". The song, as others have pointed out, is about Josef Mengele who was nicknamed "Todesengel" or "Angel of Death"
when i first heard this song i had to look up what abacinate meant. then in junior high we had to do creative writing and almost every story i wrote involved someone being abacinated. my teacher sent me to the guidance counselor multiple times. hahaha
I've always felt it was one of three things. The first is that metal bands that sing about the devil aren't really singing about the devil so much as using him as a metaphor for a different evil in the world. The second reason is to just be shocking for the sake of it. To appeal to kids who just wanted something that would freak out their parents. The third is the very rare case of someone who genuinely means it, but I don't think I know of any examples of that actually being the case.
Love the aggressiveness of Slayer. They are not my favorite Thrash band, no, but they are a close second. There's a song off this same album, "Reign in Blood", called 'Reborn'. It's only 2:12 long, but it is my personal favorite off the album. Not the best solo. Not the fastest riffs. But probably the fastest vocals, that I can remember at the moment. Not Eminem speed, but for 1986, pretty damn fast. Whether to react to the song or simply listen off line, you really need to check it out.
Jeff Hanneman didn't buy his Nazi memorabilia. His dad or grandfather was in WW2 and took it off dead Nazi soldiers This is on the same album. You should listen to South of Heaven or Seasons in the Abyss. They are still Thrash but they are Groovy Thrash
Jeff started collecting the Nazi stuff after his Grandfather gave him some medals that he took off dead Nazis as souvenirs while he was in WW2..He was just fascinated with War in general..it's great subject matter for writing metal songs about, along with serial killers and the evil of mankind
It wasn’t his grandfather… it was his dad. Jeff’s dad served in WWII. Jeff was a late life baby, the youngest of his siblings. He was also very close to his dad and he got all of his dad’s collection.
You should checkout Alice Cooper. He's known as the Godfather of shock rock. Definitely read up on him first, he has quite the story. He is a storyteller and you HAVE TO SEE his stage shows/ videos to fully grasp and understand him. A good stating song, "Welcome to my Nightmare". The name of the song says everything about his journey.
If I can make a recommendation for another Slayer song… check out Necrophobic, which is also on the Reign In Blood album. Based on what you said, I think you’ll dig it.
I remember listening to this in 1986 when I was just ten years old. This was before the explicit content warning, so my mom didn't really monitor what kind of content I was consuming. I was wearing these band shirts to school in the fifth grade, before everyone got up in arms over "appropriate dress". To this day, I'm a bit of a ghoul. I enjoyed thrash and death metal, warped gory comics and extreme horror films. It's all in good fun, though. Keep rockin my dude You're right though; most of these bands don't support the things they write songs about. It's usually for education rather than celebration. Bear in mind that once you get into death and black metal, you will encounter some truly evil and satanic bands
If you think it's crazy people slept to this, I used to sleep to a band named Mortician. Check out a song called Charred Corpses by them. Or better yet, listen to Slayer's Piece by Piece and then listen to Mortician's cover of it.
He is singing all about the Holocaust, and how twisted and vicious they were killing all of the Jews.The Angel Of Death is Josef Megele he was put in charge by Hitler to overlook and instruct all the Brutal murder! It is a song ABOUT it! Not telling people to DO it? Big difference!
Have you reacted to Anthrax, Biohazard or Type O Negative? Just curious. And now there’s goth that is very heavy and very dark but the talent can’t be denied.
I cut my Thrash Metal teeth on Anthrax. Nuclear Assault, another East Coast Thrash band like Anthrax and Overkill, had a different sound than the West Coast Thrash bands like Slayer, Megadeth and Metallica. East Coast was more Hardcore Punk influenced, imho. This is why I see Anthrax in the "Big 4" and not Exodus. Anthrax was signed to a record contract before Exodus. Having East and West Coast together unifies Thrash under one subgenre. Of course, none of that matters 40 years later for someone listing to his second Slayer song.
If you like this you will love Metallicas ”Creeping death”, it´s about the 3 plagues of the Egypts and Moses. If you do that you should do the live version from Monsters of rock in Moscow 1991, with 1.6 millions in the crowd.
The space where content like this gets problematic is when people who are inspired by it can't discern the artists' intentions, view it as support, and then make similar art that is in support of these topics. The rappers you mentioned might not have glorified the lifestyle but rappers influenced by them might've gone on to make music that did exactly that. The same thing happened in metal - bands like Slayer touched on a lot of messed up, dark topics just to explore the darker side of the human experience or to just be edgy, but plenty of bands who came after them and were inspired by them 100% do support those things. That's not to say we should necessarily blame Slayer or NWA or censor their art, but I think it's a little disingenuous to believe that you can touch on subjects like these without influencing some future artists to take it down a less ethical path.
Bro, slayer is a history lesson, he wrote angel of death after reading about of the place where they gassed the jews, don't know the exact spelling ok you got it, he's giving us a history lesson so we don't repeat it, which we are 56 labs in Ukraine labs in kasastan, Romania,and other places and you can think operation paper clip
Nice reaction dude. You certainly seem to be open minded and try to be reasonable and realistic in your view point. Yeah Slayer is not for everyone but you can't deny their talent. No I do not believe these bands support this stuff at least the majority of them. There are bands that actually believe in some wild stuff but not many and they are open about their beliefs.
You don’t know anything about Slayer Angel Of Death is not a record. It’s a song,,, and it has nothing to do with the religion or being a Christian. It’s good to do a little research if any, so that way you at least know what you’re talking about!! Now, I am not criticizing you in a negative, I’m just saying I think a reaction channel should be thorough and it’s information that is given! BTW, I like your content a lot and I like watching your channel. This is not a diss. Hopefully it’s just a little bit of constructive criticism. Keep up the good work, my brother from another mother.🤘🏼😁🤘🏼
"i stopped watching because you talk too much" became "you don't know anything, you didn't research enough!!" So quickly lol It's like you're only here to be an ass
You sound old, friend.😅 I just had a younger, 40 yro assistant working for me on a music project here in Nashville & took me a minute to realize when I asked if she was familiar with a classic artist she'd say yeah, I've heard some of their records & it was/IS exact same meaning: A "RECORD" TO AT LEAST A 40 YRO IS A "SINGLE" TO US!!! You'll be lucky to find a 40 yro who's heard an album from start to finish, the FULL PIECE OF ART INTENDED, these days! I hate to agree with Lars Ulrich on any fukn thing😅, but he was damn right on Napster!!! Is the reason tickets to concerts are $100 & nobody under 45 knows what a fukn record is anymore! FREE COMPUTER MUSIC!!! 🤗💕 SMGDMFH!🙄 🤘🌎❤️
Damn dude talking about splitting hairs. So fucking what? At least he’s interested in even bothering to know a bit about the band. Most reactors don’t even do that. How would you have felt back in the day if someone came at you like that? Be a good person. It doesn’t cost anything.
Even though i got Reign In Blood week it came out & was into 1st 3 albums, '88's "South Of Heaven" their best overall imo & last "original" sounding Thrash album. That would be THE album id introduce anyone to Slayer with who has leanings toward enjoying Metal. Thought Sepultura would carry the mantle. But by the time their 2nd big album was released around '90 it all sounded the same & i went in opposite direction & discovered Dylan & Cohen!😅 Let alone by the time Metallica & RHCP sold us out, & fluffed up punk was re-packaged as "Grunge" for Mtv pop culture. Sounds like im knocking younger folk, but im not! Just way it was for me! No matter what your Jam friends, whatever blesses you & yours is ALL that matters to me! May it continue to do so! Rock On Mofos!!! 🤘🌎❤️
Metal head here since 1986 people have no idea what is really behind Slayers lyrics truly dark not just for entertainment but a reality. It's not just making music this is what they are and their followers are......... very violent world in the underground sadistic sadist truly dark wicked realm of Satanism does exsistists its just never spoken of out of fear. Messing around with Slayer fans is like inviting the devil into your home, i'm not joking I've seen it with my own eyes these lyrics are no joke.
You are correct that the song is not trying to glorify the holocaust. Quite the opposite actually. The song is a portrait of the horror of the angel of death and the holocaust. The song is brutal and genius.
I’m Christian and huge Slayer fan and also used to go to sleep listening to Slayer. I was a teenager in the 80s. It’s what we did. 😂
Same 🤣
I grew up Catholic in the 80s, and I was legit scared of this band. Love them now though! They are rare talents!
Damn Straight!!!
Dude we have lived parallel lives!!! Am a Christian and love SLAYER. The 80's, rise of the big four, it was fantastic!!! ❤
Facts
This song is just telling history
'Angel of death' is not about religion but the lyrics are controversial... It's about Dr. Jozef Mengele, the infamous German nazi doctor and SS officer (nicknamed 'the angel of death') who performed inhumane experiments on Jewish detainees during World War II... Methods of torture and death included gas chambers and forced surgeries... Mengele excaped justice by fleeing to South America in 1949... He reportedly died in 1979 after suffering a heart attack and drowning.
Producer Rick Rubin had signed Slayer to his Def Jam label in 1986 but his distributor Columbia Records were so enraged by 'Angel of death' being about a nazi doctor that they refused to release the Slayer album 'Reign in blood'... Of course, metal fans heard about the controversy and bought thousands of copies of 'Reign in blood' when Def Jam released the album via independent distributors...
Yeah, it's not about christianity. About mengele
Jeff's dad was one of the soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-DAY. they would take the medals off of dead nazi soldiers as a way to show them "disrespect". Jeff's dad would show him the medals he brought home & they always conversed about his military/war times. when his dad died, he left all of his stuff to Jeff & as a way to honor his dad, when he found nazi medals, he would get em. SLAYER ain't white supremacists, the singer/bassist is from Chile, South America & their drummer is from Cuba. SLAYER ain't satanic, they use horror movie/novel themes for the sole purpose of scaring uptight "conservatives" . look at it as "horror music".
lombardo= top 3 drummers in universe for sure
dave is number two after the machine drummer in infant animator
mom finally understood metal when i explained to her that it's just like jumping out of an airplane, climbing a mountain, or riding a roller coaster. it's all about the adrenalin. metal is for going to the gym, or running, or mowing the grass. other music is for other moods and other activities.
Verlos en vivo, hay que tener cardio.
I was born in 1970 and I cut my teeth on this Album in 1986! Keep going brother! Mad love from Oklahoma!!!
Same here, Southside my friend 🤘☠️🤘
@@illegalamigo4709 Ride or Die, till it’s over. I went to S E high school 86-89!
Public Enemy sampled the middle section of this song for their song She Watch Channel Zero.
PE were dope back then for sure.
It's always hilarious to me that not one of these hip hop fans ever recognizes it. When ITANOMTHUB came out in 1988 my friends and I all fell over ourselves the first time we heard She Watch Channel Zero. Not only is it a fantastic song, they fucking sampled SLAYER! The hardest, fastest most thrashin' thrash band of all, the most metal music that had ever been created, was on the dopest hip hop album ever created! I don't think that the kids today who are into hip hop & rap really delve into the history of their favorite music, tho. They should; there's a lot of great music that was released back in the day.
Thank you! For being sincere, honest, comprehensive. For giving your perspective and your experience. The online research you did and the appreciation of the musicianship. I had so much fun watch your reactions!
The nazi memorablla was his dad's collection from killing nazis
That song is the very definition of the best of thrash metal.
best thrash metal album. work of art
ICE T'S FAVORITE BAND , HIS CUZ PLAYED HIM SLAYER AND THAT WAS IT .. HIS CUZ ALSO PLAYS GUITAR . YEP T STARTED HIS OWN THRASH METAL BAND AND THEY DO COVER SOME SLAYER MATERIAL INCLUDING RAINING BLOOD... THIS SONG IS ABOUT JOSEF MENGLE WORLD WAR 2 NAZI DR WHO WAS CALLED THE ANGEL OF DEATH.....
The body count version is very good
Slayer make you grow hair in your balls
I was 17 when I herd this album for the first time it change my life love it
Don't go to hard on the kid. Hes learning. Always read the lyrics in metal. The song is about the atrocities of the Holocaust. Angel of death was Mengels nickname.
This song is just a unique way of introducing a vaguely known monster from history. The band Venom did a song about countess Bathory, another monster of history.
"I know why people misinterpret it. It's because they get this knee-jerk reaction to it. When they read the lyrics, there's nothing I put in the lyrics that says, necessarily, that he was a bad man. Because, to me, well, isn't that obvious? I should not have to tell you that." - Jeff Hanneman on 'Angel of Death' - RIP, Jeff! You will never be forgotten!!
I listen this to sleep my friend. Metal give me the energy and the peace that I need. Bay the way, this music is a history lesson my friend.
The middle guitar part is used in Public Enemy's song, She Watch Channel Zero!!! Go back and listen to Public Enemy's song and you'll hear it throughout the whole song!!!
Te tomaste tu tiempo para explicar esta letra,m encantó,tengo 55años y escucho Slayer de los 16,tu comentario fue el mejor de todos los q escuché, aguante Slayer por siempre,saludos de Caballito Buenos Aires
Back when slayer was on DefJam records!!!
Also, check out Public Enemy she watch channel zero. They sample this song!!!!!
In most songs like these, the lyrics aren't endorsements, they're just stories. And in cases like this, the lyrics are just painting a picture from the story and bringing some kind of understanding and awareness to how dark the world can be.
What song is actually about the Nazi scientists they used to do terrible experiments on the Jews and he was called the angel of death because of it
I'm a proud Christian Slayer fan, it's all just music and fun at the end of the day! And slayer touches on some real topics and ideas that have the potential to expand one's mind and knowledge if thought about in a healthy emotional state.
I'm always conflicted listening to this song, having lost most of my family in the holocaust. I know it's a retelling of history, not a glorification of it; it's educational just as it is metal, but it is painful to listen to for personal reasons. That doesn't detract from it's power though.
I've often fallen asleep to Cradle of Filth, so the Slayer thing isn't weird to me. Maybe a little because I can't fall asleep to anything I can sing along with. The more words I know, I'll just stay up singing along, but Cradle... I know a couple of lines here, a few there, but it's the music. Heavy as it is, many of their songs are composed like lullaby's in a way. There are these swooning sections that make you sway along and it's genuinely peaceful (in my humble opinion). Even when I'm full on headbanging to it; I feel content.
Check out some of their stuff. I'd start where I started, with the "Dusk and Her Embrace" & "Cruelty and the Beast" albums (which I still think is their magnum opus). It's a concept album about the Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory.
I've always been a metalhead, but I wasn't into black or death metal much (in 1996 - 97). I was in a metal band at the time and got exposed to COF. I hated the vocals at first, but I loved the music so much that I stuck with it. Then, (as a writer) I was curious as to what the lyrics were, and Dani Filth (lead vocalist) is nothing shy of "masterful" at his craft. That's when I began hearing his voice as an instrument rather than just aggressiveness, it ebbs and flows with the music and the storytelling is epic.
A handful of songs to wet your whistle. from a couple of their earlier albums (which were remastered a few years ago). I'm intentionally leaving out a couple of "ballads" that are very popular because it'll give you a false sense of the band as a whole. I was already a fan by the time those songs came out, perhaps you will be too.
"A Gothic Romance (Red Roses for the devil's whore)", "Thirteen Autumns and a Window", "Malice Through the Looking Glass", "Bathory Aria: Benighted Like Usher / A Murder of Ravens in Fugue / Eyes the Witnessed Madness" (yes, that's one song, in three parts) and my personal favorite song of theirs: "Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids".
If you're going to stand in front of the rabbit hole... you might as well go down it. 😉😎🤘
Slayer is the og of thrash. An album that doesn't get alot of love from us diehards but I actually love is their grooviest,south of heaven. Start to finish is well written but slower than most. However it's writing from lyrics to music it's a master piece.
Bro Google
Who was the Nazi - "Angel of Death"?
That is what the song is about
South of Heaven is another slayer song that would be a must for you. Good luck.
You are absolutely on the money about the comparison between thrash and gangster rap. They're telling stories through the music and some of those are informed by reality. Metal has always been accused of being satanic and while that is true in some aspects (black metal bands like Dimmu Borgir) there are a ton of bands that use brutal imagery to tell stories. The vocalist for Cannibal Corpse is literally nicknamed Corpsegrinder but his hobby is to go win dolls in claw machines and give them away. Art doesn't always reflect the artist.
If you're interested in looking into Death Metal (like thrash but darker and harder hitting) I'd say check out Suffocation. There's also Bodycount which is Ice-T's metal band. Not quite thrash or death metal but it's cool as fuck.
All through Slayers catalog you find 'one-liner lyrics' that are just brutal.....in this song -- "Human mice, for the Angel of Death"
Good reaction and deep discussion!!
Just FYI, Jeff Hanneman wasn’t a Nazi. He was fascinated with the history since his grandfather was in the German military in WWII. He collected historical artifacts from WWII, mainly Nazi related objects, which is something that countless people with an interest in history do. It’s not like he was buying newly-made Swastika flags from actual Nazis.
His father fought FOR AMERICA and took Nazi medals off dead Germans.
This is a history lesson most of all. Slayer like to sing about the dark side of life but some of the members are Christian. Slayer are not bad people but some of their fans are a bit crazy. So it is the fans that give Slayer a bad rap. Slayer wrote a song called repentless. It is about them being unapologetic about their music. No matter what side Slayer are on, they had to know this would be controversial and they thrived on this IMO. Just like Cop K***er by Ice T and Body Count and F the Police by NWA. lead singer Tom said we are not glorifying it. We just thought it would be cool for a song. Do we hate on people who make war movies which include the holocaust. Some people don't even think the holocaust ever happened. We can't change it or pretend bad things in history never happened. Slayer are not for everyone but they are one of the most influential metal acts of all time. We like metal because they are not afraid to sing about difficult topics. Beats Crappy pop and rap artists these days. Pop and Rap was much better back in the day. Well most music was. Even metal is not what it used to be and Slayer would be banned If they put out the album Reign in Blood today. Glad you liked it.
Nicely stated.
Anyone who can see this as song as glorifying the Holocaust didn’t even take the time to read the lyrics. Words like “sadistic,” “infamous butcher,” “harmless victims,” none of that is positive.
Bro, a lot of thrash lyrics talk about a variety of subjects. Like politics, warfare, religion, addiction, suicide, murder, injustice, isolation, corruption, alienation, and other stuff. They often use sarcasm and humor in their lyrics. It’s not all about the devil.
That's why i love thrash more than all other genres of metal. A lot of it is lyrically, really heavy stuff, and the rest is just about getting wasted, horror movies, and partying.
Kerry King and Jeff Haneman are Atheist but Tom Araya(the vocals) is outwardly Christian. Not sure about the drummers. And Tom Arayas family migrated here from Chile when he was 5 yrs old and Dave Lombardo(drums) is from Cuba so that Nazi crap is out the window.
You should read the lyrics of Megadeth closer, Testament being another but thrash is (with a few exceptions) is very much against the things they sing about, Thrash was about anti government control, counter-culture, more or less and evolved form of punk. After you study Thrash for awhile youll see what its about, primarily Freedom.
best band ever , tnks from brazil my noob channel
Thrash metal was born as a grassroots form of music and it succeeded against all odds... the same way rock n' roll music was created in the deep south by struggling folks who played guitar and piano and wanted to sway listeners. These forms of music were not conjured by major corporations and rich folks looking to mass-produce and sell a product (but that did come later when the trends came their way 😂)
These were kids who were hard-wired and picked up guitars to create noise and headbang ... and they wanted to be faster and heavier than the bands that came before them... Slayer were teenagers when they formed the band in 1981 and they were broke for years before their career started to take off after 1986... and they were part of the West Coast scene w/ bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Death Angel, Testament, etc. These bands were never taken seriously by the music industry and relied on indie labels to release their music.
But when the record sales began to rise for thrash metal bands in the late 80's, the record labels were intrigued and realized that there was a huge market for them to open up an access... Thrash metal bands started cropping up everywhere, from Canada to the UK to Germany and even South America... and records started pouring into the market.
By 1990, Metallica had a 2x platinum record 'And justice for all'...and made MTV for the first time in 1989... Megadeth and Anthrax had been on MTV since 1986/ '87 and had gold selling records... and Slayer were poised to be on MTV in 1990/ '91 as well... MTV had the show 'Headbangers Ball' and they promoted all the thrash and extreme metal bands like Voivod, Exodus, Kreator, Annihilator, Suicidal Tendencies, etc.
Unfortunately, the market became oversaturated by 1992 w/ so many generic bands that weren't as good as the original bands that the thrash metal scene went into decline... It didn't help when Metallica's 1991 'black' album crossed over into pop record sales of millions and other bands wanted to soften their sound and cross over as well... but failed in their attempts. By the mid-90's, thrash metal had become irrelevant and most of the bands either broke up or disappeared from public view... Only Pantera kept the extreme metal sound alive during the 90's decade while bands like Anthrax, Slayer, Kreator, etc. struggled to sell records.
As far as collecting nazi memorabilia, (the late) Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead was an avid collector of war souvenirs and had quite a few of them in his possession... but it was not to glorify nazism or support their cause. It was more like trophies collected by the victors after vanquishing their enemies (the nazis in this case) in World War II... Lemmy strongly iterated that he was not a racist or a nazi sympathizer - he simply collected historical artifacts of past wars.
Jonathan Davis (lead singer of KoRn) said he had a fascination w/ serial killers and even bought the infamous Volkswagon car that Ted Bundy owned, which he used to stalk and kill women with... He eventually sold it claiming it had 'bad vibes'... But nobody accused him of being an advocate for serial killers. It's merely a fascination w/ the evil that some men (and women) are capable of.
I've listened to Slayer since the 90's. However, it's like Emenem to me. I can appreciate GOATs, technicality, skill, etc., but I can't just chill to it all the time. It's music chosen for a mood like the gym or 2pm lull in the day. My anxiety can't handle an overdose. That's just me but when I need some Slayer, I know what to pick!
I’ve seen Slayer many times. Always in the front of the pit. I always left bloody. I cut their logo into my leg. The scar remains. FUCKING SLAYER 🤘
Check out next from Slayer.. Mandatory Suicide from the live dvd Still Ringing and from their album Seasons in the Abyss the song War Ensemble (the official video).. Both songs about war
In alot of the live performances of this song Tom would skip the opening scream to protect his voice.
The scream by Tom Araya at the beginning was actually a first take, they tried other takes but didn't match up to that one.
Also, this song is the only recorded use of the word "abacinate".
The song, as others have pointed out, is about Josef Mengele who was nicknamed "Todesengel" or "Angel of Death"
also this song was sampled in Public Enemy's "She Watch Channel Zero"
when i first heard this song i had to look up what abacinate meant. then in junior high we had to do creative writing and almost every story i wrote involved someone being abacinated. my teacher sent me to the guidance counselor multiple times. hahaha
@@CroMagJohnson hahaha
I feel like Carcass probably used that word, but I can't remember off the top of my head. Definitely something in the wheelhouse of their grind days.
South of Heaven or Mandatory Suicide by SLAYER Bangers thanks dig your show From NM home of LOBOS and DUKES Free SPM
505 in the house!! Cheers from Santa Fe. 🤘🏼
This band is surprisingly Christian.[EDIT] Well the band mates in that case.
I've always felt it was one of three things. The first is that metal bands that sing about the devil aren't really singing about the devil so much as using him as a metaphor for a different evil in the world.
The second reason is to just be shocking for the sake of it. To appeal to kids who just wanted something that would freak out their parents.
The third is the very rare case of someone who genuinely means it, but I don't think I know of any examples of that actually being the case.
Love the aggressiveness of Slayer. They are not my favorite Thrash band, no, but they are a close second. There's a song off this same album, "Reign in Blood", called 'Reborn'. It's only 2:12 long, but it is my personal favorite off the album. Not the best solo. Not the fastest riffs. But probably the fastest vocals, that I can remember at the moment. Not Eminem speed, but for 1986, pretty damn fast. Whether to react to the song or simply listen off line, you really need to check it out.
The scream at the beginning resembles a man dying at the moment of a painful death.
Jeff Hanneman didn't buy his Nazi memorabilia. His dad or grandfather was in WW2 and took it off dead Nazi soldiers
This is on the same album. You should listen to South of Heaven or Seasons in the Abyss. They are still Thrash but they are Groovy Thrash
Jeff started collecting the Nazi stuff after his Grandfather gave him some medals that he took off dead Nazis as souvenirs while he was in WW2..He was just fascinated with War in general..it's great subject matter for writing metal songs about, along with serial killers and the evil of mankind
It wasn’t his grandfather… it was his dad. Jeff’s dad served in WWII. Jeff was a late life baby, the youngest of his siblings. He was also very close to his dad and he got all of his dad’s collection.
You should checkout Alice Cooper. He's known as the Godfather of shock rock. Definitely read up on him first, he has quite the story. He is a storyteller and you HAVE TO SEE his stage shows/ videos to fully grasp and understand him. A good stating song, "Welcome to my Nightmare". The name of the song says everything about his journey.
If I can make a recommendation for another Slayer song… check out Necrophobic, which is also on the Reign In Blood album. Based on what you said, I think you’ll dig it.
Tom said these exact words…I’m a devout Christian. I take my wife and kids to church every week. What can I say, death sells
If you want to hear fast playing, check out "through the fire and flames" by Dragonforce!
I remember listening to this in 1986 when I was just ten years old. This was before the explicit content warning, so my mom didn't really monitor what kind of content I was consuming. I was wearing these band shirts to school in the fifth grade, before everyone got up in arms over "appropriate dress". To this day, I'm a bit of a ghoul. I enjoyed thrash and death metal, warped gory comics and extreme horror films. It's all in good fun, though. Keep rockin my dude
You're right though; most of these bands don't support the things they write songs about. It's usually for education rather than celebration. Bear in mind that once you get into death and black metal, you will encounter some truly evil and satanic bands
Nice shirt...pacman
If you think it's crazy people slept to this, I used to sleep to a band named Mortician. Check out a song called Charred Corpses by them. Or better yet, listen to Slayer's Piece by Piece and then listen to Mortician's cover of it.
Organized chaos.
Haunting the Chapel. Go wayyy back
He is singing all about the Holocaust, and how twisted and vicious they were killing all of the Jews.The Angel Of Death is Josef Megele he was put in charge by Hitler to overlook and instruct all the Brutal murder! It is a song ABOUT it! Not telling people to DO it? Big difference!
I learned more about the holocaust from the Reign In Blood album than I learned from school
Have you reacted to Anthrax, Biohazard or Type O Negative? Just curious. And now there’s goth that is very heavy and very dark but the talent can’t be denied.
I cut my Thrash Metal teeth on Anthrax. Nuclear Assault, another East Coast Thrash band like Anthrax and Overkill, had a different sound than the West Coast Thrash bands like Slayer, Megadeth and Metallica. East Coast was more Hardcore Punk influenced, imho. This is why I see Anthrax in the "Big 4" and not Exodus. Anthrax was signed to a record contract before Exodus. Having East and West Coast together unifies Thrash under one subgenre. Of course, none of that matters 40 years later for someone listing to his second Slayer song.
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Literally sounds like HeLL
No, gangster rappers FULLY support their gangs.
I can't know if your sarcastic or not
This dude gets it. Check out MELECHESH when you have the time.
If you like this you will love Metallicas ”Creeping death”, it´s about the 3 plagues of the Egypts and Moses. If you do that you should do the live version from Monsters of rock in Moscow 1991, with 1.6 millions in the crowd.
The space where content like this gets problematic is when people who are inspired by it can't discern the artists' intentions, view it as support, and then make similar art that is in support of these topics. The rappers you mentioned might not have glorified the lifestyle but rappers influenced by them might've gone on to make music that did exactly that. The same thing happened in metal - bands like Slayer touched on a lot of messed up, dark topics just to explore the darker side of the human experience or to just be edgy, but plenty of bands who came after them and were inspired by them 100% do support those things.
That's not to say we should necessarily blame Slayer or NWA or censor their art, but I think it's a little disingenuous to believe that you can touch on subjects like these without influencing some future artists to take it down a less ethical path.
😂😂😂 sorry buddy no reparations here😂🎂😂
lets gooo
Bro, slayer is a history lesson, he wrote angel of death after reading about of the place where they gassed the jews, don't know the exact spelling ok you got it, he's giving us a history lesson so we don't repeat it, which we are 56 labs in Ukraine labs in kasastan, Romania,and other places and you can think operation paper clip
Keep those crutches handy after this one bro!
the lead singer Tom and the drummer Dave are both christian
Nice reaction dude. You certainly seem to be open minded and try to be reasonable and realistic in your view point. Yeah Slayer is not for everyone but you can't deny their talent. No I do not believe these bands support this stuff at least the majority of them. There are bands that actually believe in some wild stuff but not many and they are open about their beliefs.
Lemmy from Motorhead also collected Nazi memorabilia
You don’t know anything about Slayer Angel Of Death is not a record. It’s a song,,, and it has nothing to do with the religion or being a Christian. It’s good to do a little research if any, so that way you at least know what you’re talking about!! Now, I am not criticizing you in a negative, I’m just saying I think a reaction channel should be thorough and it’s information that is given! BTW, I like your content a lot and I like watching your channel. This is not a diss. Hopefully it’s just a little bit of constructive criticism. Keep up the good work, my brother from another mother.🤘🏼😁🤘🏼
"i stopped watching because you talk too much" became "you don't know anything, you didn't research enough!!" So quickly lol
It's like you're only here to be an ass
You sound old, friend.😅 I just had a younger, 40 yro assistant working for me on a music project here in Nashville & took me a minute to realize when I asked if she was familiar with a classic artist she'd say yeah, I've heard some of their records & it was/IS exact same meaning: A "RECORD" TO AT LEAST A 40 YRO IS A "SINGLE" TO US!!! You'll be lucky to find a 40 yro who's heard an album from start to finish, the FULL PIECE OF ART INTENDED, these days!
I hate to agree with Lars Ulrich on any fukn thing😅, but he was damn right on Napster!!! Is the reason tickets to concerts are $100 & nobody under 45 knows what a fukn record is anymore!
FREE COMPUTER MUSIC!!!
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SMGDMFH!🙄
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Damn dude talking about splitting hairs. So fucking what? At least he’s interested in even bothering to know a bit about the band. Most reactors don’t even do that. How would you have felt back in the day if someone came at you like that? Be a good person. It doesn’t cost anything.
A song is a record. A collection of recorded songs is an extended play or long play album.
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Even though i got Reign In Blood week it came out & was into 1st 3 albums, '88's "South Of Heaven" their best overall imo & last "original" sounding Thrash album. That would be THE album id introduce anyone to Slayer with who has leanings toward enjoying Metal. Thought Sepultura would carry the mantle. But by the time their 2nd big album was released around '90 it all sounded the same & i went in opposite direction & discovered Dylan & Cohen!😅 Let alone by the time Metallica & RHCP sold us out, & fluffed up punk was re-packaged as "Grunge" for Mtv pop culture. Sounds like im knocking younger folk, but im not! Just way it was for me! No matter what your Jam friends, whatever blesses you & yours is ALL that matters to me! May it continue to do so!
Rock On Mofos!!!
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I wouldn't consider Slayer as Satanic.
No more than I would consider the director & actors in the Exorcist to be satanic.
A lot of metal bands use shocking lyrical subject matter as a parallel to the music. Both are potentially offensive.
Worshipping the devil? Which thrash band does that?
React to the cover by carnifex - angel of death
Slayer isn't satanic...
Behemoth, however...
This who Metallica was listening too...before they became them. Thrash music was all underground.
They were faster live
Where are your headphones, man?
Angel Of Death has nothing to do with Christianity
Never take the lyrics in music seriously...
Christian, your judging.
Metal head here since 1986 people have no idea what is really behind Slayers lyrics truly dark not just for entertainment but a reality. It's not just making music this is what they are and their followers are......... very violent world in the underground sadistic sadist truly dark wicked realm of Satanism does exsistists its just never spoken of out of fear. Messing around with Slayer fans is like inviting the devil into your home, i'm not joking I've seen it with my own eyes these lyrics are no joke.
Hmm, you mean people talk about things to raise consciousness about it? Nah
I can go to sleep listening to slayer because I listen to a lot harder stuff