You do make a good point about the first 5 albums being of better quality and sounding more evil. Slayer was my jam as a teenager and i preferred the God Hates Us All and Christ Illusion then, but as i get older it becomes harder to listen to a lot of that material because it just sounds so hollow. You can tell they were trying to outrun themselves by being aggressive for the sake of it but the material just doesn't match the subtlety of the earlier stuff. i would point towards the ending of Bob Dylan's masters of war as an example when he says "...And i'll stand over your grave until i'm sure your dead" the words of that song have so much more emotional weight than anything Slayer put out post Season's. It's almost like they forgot how to be Slayer in some respects, that earlier evil sound they had was unmatched by anyone, the material that came after was only skin deep in nature, the slayer of old could cut to the bone. Great introspection Alan.
80's Slayer is indeed unstoppable.. however, I will always defend Divine Intervention.. The most underrated Slayer releases ever (as well as the last great one)
I've seen Slayer multiple times, but I grew up in NY so we lucked out in the 80's. I saw them on the Reign In Blood tour 3 times. 2 nights in a row in Manhattan in Dec 86, right before x-mas break, and then again in April in Brooklyn, right before easter break. (that's how i can remember them) That Brooklyn show was hands down the bloodiest show I've ever been to. I think I've seen them 8 or 9 times between 84 and 88. I'd actually have to do a deep dive in my brain to remember them all... too many years...
Good critique, very accurate and for the most part mirrors my own Slayer experience. Haunting The Chapel was the first Slayer record I ever bought and for some reason over the past few years, Show No Mercy has become my favourite Slayer album. I have a feeling it stems from when I listened to their entire back catalogue on reverse order a few years ago, and that was such an epic point to finish on. Plus Judas Priest happen to be my favourite band of all time and I hear them channeled a hell of a lot through that record.
Growing up I was all about Reign in Blood, but He'll Awaits is my favorite these days. And I'm one that actually loves everything up to and including Seasons.
The time span of looking at this now is crazy. I always think of new slayer being after abyss with abyss being mid period lol. Its also bit mental that testament are talked about as 2nd wave so 4 years after start of first wave.
Love it. Very fair and balanced. Age is such a key to all of this .... Slayer in the SFX Dublin around 1999/2000 was mind blowing for me as 21 year old. The fact that tour was off the back of the Diablos record made the whole experience a little confusing! “How can this band I’m seeing live make this album” sort of thing. Keep going with these videos
So I just pulled out 4 copies of LIVE UNDEAD on pic disc... (i don't seem to have the black vinyls) All 4 are on Metal Blade 1985, all 4 have 6 songs. 3 of them have a black jacket with a cut out on the front to show the pic disc and solid back with track listing and credits, no picture/image. The 4th one has no jacket, it's just in a thick plastic sleeve, but I don't remember where it came from, and it has a slightly different coloring to it, maybe it's a reissue? The only difference in the vinyls are slight. 2 of them have a solid black border. 1 has a black border with the outer rim in yellow. The other has a black border with an outer rim in a sort of peach color.
@@AlanAverillNemtheanga The regular black vinyl with the black sleeve has 8 songs. Though I think the Metal Blade one only has 7? Or maybe it's Roadrunner? But the picture discs with the black sleeve has 6 songs. That's what I have 4 of. And if I remember correctly, it was recorded live in the studio with select fans?
You should do Morbid Angel, watching your death metal 1991 inspired me to go back and listen to all that stuff, it'd be cool to hear your thoughts on their career, or even your favorite dm band Immolation. Those bands as well as Incantation and Grave are my kind of dm. Great video about Slayer, definitely agree after Seasons and South of Heaven era it's just not the same, but at the same time I saw them a few years ago and it was great, just don't really care for any of their stuff the last few decades. The best part of the 80s Slayer was the dark and sinister feeling, even on Show No Mercy, which is one of my favorites, and basically proto black metal in my opinion, and this is entirely missing from the years of yelling. But doesn't change theyre one of the gods of metal with an influence on almost every genre to come after them much like Celtic Frost, etc.
Downloaded & Watched your video while chugging some Slayer riffs and WOW - you seem like a genuine fan who really appreciates their work and can verbalize what the magic was all about. I had the chance to see them 2 times, late 80s plus mid 90ies and the late 80ies version was peak-ferocious, while the 90ies package still "packed" a punch. Unfortunately the "pink" 90ies left their mark on Slayer but I'm still delighted that in as late as 94' Slayer released an album that at least had some serious bite when compared to the other big "thrashers". I'm also digging that so many video bootlegs kept popping up on youtube so one can always catch a glimpse of their earlier full package genius. Again, big props to you for your great review!
Loved this video, but I have only one critique. It was mentioned a few times that Hanneman didn’t seem to care much after Seasons in the Abyss, but didn’t he write nearly all of the music and about half of the lyrics on Diabolus en Musica? I had always heard that Diabolus was the “Jeff” record and God Hates Us All was a 95% Kerry album. I mean, Diabolus was bad, but might be unfair to place the blame on Kerry for that one. Lol. Anyways, love these videos. Keep em’ coming! 🤘
I’m so glad someone is giving south of heaven some recognition. I still think it’s their best album. It was early on in my metal journey when I picked it up second hand on tape back when I was 13 years old and having never heard, only read about slayer, I can say I was rather blown away 👍🤘😳
Very good show. I saw them in Cascais, Portugal; Divine Intervention tour w/Machine Head. Tom Araya seemed surprised - I guess the right word would be "touched" - at the level of passion of everyone there. After Seasons, they seemed lost or watered down. Like you alluded to, one dimensional and lots of screaming - too many mid-frequencies. With Kerry King at the helm of the machine, nuance was definitely lost. Again, excellent show!
Spot on for the most part, though I kind of disagree about Seasons in the Abyss and Divine Intervention. I think Seasons is as good as the other four albums preceding it, and Divine Intervention is the last really good Slayer record, though Christ Illusion was quite decent too. The rest of their catalog I couldn't care less besides maybe one or two tracks.
Now I get its logical that you do one for Metallica and Megadeth next, but could you try to do a guide for more extreme stuff like Morbid Angel, Immolation, Darkthrone, Emperor or Mayhem perhaps?
"Divine" was the last album that felt as if they put some effort in it and it carried a bit of Slayer's soul. "Seasons" was superb but when you look at the arrangements and riffs it dawns that the band was building upon its former self in a very methodological way. The music is a kind of condensed version of the former broad array of work. More like Slayer present Slayer instead of a new album. They had their formula down cold and started ripping themselves off. This is not a bad thing as they could afford it but the time their music and style was organically growing was clearly over - calculation won over chaos.
Love these episodes, but they’re kind of predictable, aren’t they? I’m pretty sure we can all you your takes on Metallica, etc. What about mixing it up a bit? Here are some ideas: 1) choose a record label and detail your favourite albums (eg Misanthropy Records); 2) choose a particular year and detail the most important albums; 3) choose a country (Irish bands?); 4) provide an overview of a particular genre and the key albums, etc. Anyway, just some suggestions, but I love these Call From the Grave episodes all the same!
I still listen to Divine Intervention and think it’s a fantastic album. Diabolous is terribly. God Hates Us All clicked for me when it came out but I can’t rent the last time I listened to it. Christ Illusion is more like Shite Illusion. I remember when World Painted Blood came out. The press said Slayer are back. It’s more shouty nonsense. Sound wise it clips through out. As for Repentless.... it’s the only album I listened to once and thought never again. The first few though. Absolute classics. Who’s up next? Metallica? That will take about 5 mins I’d say!
Altho i liked Divine intervention everything after this doesn't touch everything up to Seasons in the abbyss. I saw them for the first time on the Divine tour in Newport Wales chaotic gig then at Donington MOR another blistering show I saw them a few lime after that and they were loosening momentum every time for me. I couldn't get into anything after that altho God hates us all had it's moments for me , the last album is worth a listen but I think they perpousely made it sound like Jeff was playing to pull in old fans.
I got SOH shortly after hearing RIB for the first time, I was dying for RIB Vol II, and I was so disappointed - disgusted even - by how slow it was and Tom’s attempts to sing properly, and lyrics about ‘social issues’ (except Spill The Blood, which I found strangely boring and tokenistically Satanic, with a ‘trendy’ acoustic intro). Exceptions were made for Silent Scream and Ghosts of War. I’d have been 13, and just getting into Altars of Madness and Beneath the Remains, so it was quite a while before I realised how wrong I was about SOH, although I still think Cleanse The Soul is a blot on their 80s copybook, and Spill The Blood isn’t all that. Next time: Dokken?
I really didn't have any interest in watching this because Slayer has irritated me for so long. I'm really glad I did now. I forgot how good those early albums were
Does this dude really think he knows what he's talking about check it out I want to say one I'm going two album titles for you world painted blood repentless those f****** albums again set the bar at the end of slayer's career they are still on their own goddamn step people get to go and hang out there for a couple minutes but then they get to go back down the street and sit on the curb we all know who the speed kings are the only thing you got right is that you can judge everything by what Slayer did because they set the f****** bar there's a couple week albums I'm glad I didn't get to listen to him a whole lot because I was in the joint but after being on top this long they can make a couple albums that are a little bit weak wake up smell the metal and find a different angle to get on your soapbox and pick A part bands
![[DRIP] ‘Woke Up In Tokyo (RUKA & ASA)’ PREVIEW](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QN44lcR_VkI/mqdefault.jpg)
Enjoyed this Alan. Agree 100%.
You do make a good point about the first 5 albums being of better quality and sounding more evil. Slayer was my jam as a teenager and i preferred the God Hates Us All and Christ Illusion then, but as i get older it becomes harder to listen to a lot of that material because it just sounds so hollow. You can tell they were trying to outrun themselves by being aggressive for the sake of it but the material just doesn't match the subtlety of the earlier stuff. i would point towards the ending of Bob Dylan's masters of war as an example when he says "...And i'll stand over your grave until i'm sure your dead" the words of that song have so much more emotional weight than anything Slayer put out post Season's. It's almost like they forgot how to be Slayer in some respects, that earlier evil sound they had was unmatched by anyone, the material that came after was only skin deep in nature, the slayer of old could cut to the bone.
Great introspection Alan.
I forgot to show you the 'Iron cross' shaped 7" from Reign in Blood but you can see it in the thumbnail picture!
I was wondering what that was nice piece to the collection
@@steedday4666 Bought in Huddersfield back in the day! fire/smoke damaged for £3
Someone else who can remember the place price and date 😁
Bought mine at Wimborne market 1990(?) for 2 or 4 quid, one of the few bits of vinyl i wish i hadn't sold
Holy Terror would be great
80's Slayer is indeed unstoppable.. however, I will always defend Divine Intervention.. The most underrated Slayer releases ever (as well as the last great one)
I love these reviews!
IMMOLATION.. Please
Slayer 1985 at Dynamo is at the tiny Dynamo venue, next to the Dynamo pub in downtown Eindhoven. Not the outdoor festival.
this is what I meant....Belgium 85, first European show th-cam.com/video/EfWFrvYxWH8/w-d-xo.html
Thanks. Hadn't seen this one yet
Reign in Blood or Darkness Descends??
Sepultura
I've seen Slayer multiple times, but I grew up in NY so we lucked out in the 80's. I saw them on the Reign In Blood tour 3 times. 2 nights in a row in Manhattan in Dec 86, right before x-mas break, and then again in April in Brooklyn, right before easter break. (that's how i can remember them) That Brooklyn show was hands down the bloodiest show I've ever been to. I think I've seen them 8 or 9 times between 84 and 88. I'd actually have to do a deep dive in my brain to remember them all... too many years...
Hell Awaits will always be my favorite Slayer album. Also, the first song I ever heard them play live, before the album was even out.
Good critique, very accurate and for the most part mirrors my own Slayer experience. Haunting The Chapel was the first Slayer record I ever bought and for some reason over the past few years, Show No Mercy has become my favourite Slayer album. I have a feeling it stems from when I listened to their entire back catalogue on reverse order a few years ago, and that was such an epic point to finish on. Plus Judas Priest happen to be my favourite band of all time and I hear them channeled a hell of a lot through that record.
Growing up I was all about Reign in Blood, but He'll Awaits is my favorite these days. And I'm one that actually loves everything up to and including Seasons.
Do primordial ❤
I think that the right recipe for the first Slayer's album is: Venom+Motörhead+Priest.
It's South of Heaven all the way for me! Seasons in the Abyss comes next and Reign in Blood is closing my Slayer unholy trinity.
Maybe Voïvod next?
Do Death next
Good episode. How can you tell if an album is full marks?? When it’s “Dhaaark”. 🤘🏻 love that enthusiasm.
haha yeah I always resisted the full mark score.....but what else can you do with Hell Awaits?
Nemtheanga's guide to MANOWAR next?
The time span of looking at this now is crazy. I always think of new slayer being after abyss with abyss being mid period lol. Its also bit mental that testament are talked about as 2nd wave so 4 years after start of first wave.
Still have the Iron Cross 7", and the Criminally Insane 7" with the patch :-)
Love it. Very fair and balanced. Age is such a key to all of this .... Slayer in the SFX Dublin around 1999/2000 was mind blowing for me as 21 year old. The fact that tour was off the back of the Diablos record made the whole experience a little confusing! “How can this band I’m seeing live make this album” sort of thing.
Keep going with these videos
Up
So I just pulled out 4 copies of LIVE UNDEAD on pic disc... (i don't seem to have the black vinyls) All 4 are on Metal Blade 1985, all 4 have 6 songs. 3 of them have a black jacket with a cut out on the front to show the pic disc and solid back with track listing and credits, no picture/image. The 4th one has no jacket, it's just in a thick plastic sleeve, but I don't remember where it came from, and it has a slightly different coloring to it, maybe it's a reissue? The only difference in the vinyls are slight. 2 of them have a solid black border. 1 has a black border with the outer rim in yellow. The other has a black border with an outer rim in a sort of peach color.
I swear a friend has the black sleeved one with 8 songs......then again!
@@AlanAverillNemtheanga The regular black vinyl with the black sleeve has 8 songs. Though I think the Metal Blade one only has 7? Or maybe it's Roadrunner? But the picture discs with the black sleeve has 6 songs. That's what I have 4 of. And if I remember correctly, it was recorded live in the studio with select fans?
You should do Morbid Angel, watching your death metal 1991 inspired me to go back and listen to all that stuff, it'd be cool to hear your thoughts on their career, or even your favorite dm band Immolation. Those bands as well as Incantation and Grave are my kind of dm. Great video about Slayer, definitely agree after Seasons and South of Heaven era it's just not the same, but at the same time I saw them a few years ago and it was great, just don't really care for any of their stuff the last few decades. The best part of the 80s Slayer was the dark and sinister feeling, even on Show No Mercy, which is one of my favorites, and basically proto black metal in my opinion, and this is entirely missing from the years of yelling. But doesn't change theyre one of the gods of metal with an influence on almost every genre to come after them much like Celtic Frost, etc.
Sanctuary!
would be only two albums!?
Downloaded & Watched your video while chugging some Slayer riffs and WOW - you seem like a genuine fan who really appreciates their work and can verbalize what the magic was all about.
I had the chance to see them 2 times, late 80s plus mid 90ies and the late 80ies version was peak-ferocious, while the 90ies package still "packed" a punch. Unfortunately the "pink" 90ies left their mark on Slayer but I'm still delighted that in as late as 94' Slayer released an album that at least had some serious bite when compared to the other big "thrashers". I'm also digging that so many video bootlegs kept popping up on youtube so one can always catch a glimpse of their earlier full package genius.
Again, big props to you for your great review!
Loved this video, but I have only one critique. It was mentioned a few times that Hanneman didn’t seem to care much after Seasons in the Abyss, but didn’t he write nearly all of the music and about half of the lyrics on Diabolus en Musica? I had always heard that Diabolus was the “Jeff” record and God Hates Us All was a 95% Kerry album. I mean, Diabolus was bad, but might be unfair to place the blame on Kerry for that one. Lol. Anyways, love these videos. Keep em’ coming! 🤘
Sponsored by Metal Blade Records Go to www.metalblade.com in North America and use the promo code ALAN for 10% off
I’m so glad someone is giving south of heaven some recognition. I still think it’s their best album. It was early on in my metal journey when I picked it up second hand on tape back when I was 13 years old and having never heard, only read about slayer, I can say I was rather blown away 👍🤘😳
Very good show. I saw them in Cascais, Portugal; Divine Intervention tour w/Machine Head. Tom Araya seemed surprised - I guess the right word would be "touched" - at the level of passion of everyone there.
After Seasons, they seemed lost or watered down. Like you alluded to, one dimensional and lots of screaming - too many mid-frequencies. With Kerry King at the helm of the machine, nuance was definitely lost. Again, excellent show!
Haunting the Chapel and Hell Awaits are the greatest releases by Slayer
Spot on for the most part, though I kind of disagree about Seasons in the Abyss and Divine Intervention. I think Seasons is as good as the other four albums preceding it, and Divine Intervention is the last really good Slayer record, though Christ Illusion was quite decent too. The rest of their catalog I couldn't care less besides maybe one or two tracks.
Don't get me wrong I like Seasons but I can't put it in the same bracket as the first 4....
Now I get its logical that you do one for Metallica and Megadeth next, but could you try to do a guide for more extreme stuff like Morbid Angel, Immolation, Darkthrone, Emperor or Mayhem perhaps?
"Divine" was the last album that felt as if they put some effort in it and it carried a bit of Slayer's soul.
"Seasons" was superb but when you look at the arrangements and riffs it dawns that the band was building upon its former self in a very methodological way. The music is a kind of condensed version of the former broad array of work. More like Slayer present Slayer instead of a new album. They had their formula down cold and started ripping themselves off. This is not a bad thing as they could afford it but the time their music and style was organically growing was clearly over - calculation won over chaos.
Love these episodes, but they’re kind of predictable, aren’t they? I’m pretty sure we can all you your takes on Metallica, etc. What about mixing it up a bit? Here are some ideas: 1) choose a record label and detail your favourite albums (eg Misanthropy Records); 2) choose a particular year and detail the most important albums; 3) choose a country (Irish bands?); 4) provide an overview of a particular genre and the key albums, etc. Anyway, just some suggestions, but I love these Call From the Grave episodes all the same!
I still listen to Divine Intervention and think it’s a fantastic album. Diabolous is terribly.
God Hates Us All clicked for me when it came out but I can’t rent the last time I listened to it.
Christ Illusion is more like Shite Illusion.
I remember when World Painted Blood came out. The press said Slayer are back. It’s more shouty nonsense. Sound wise it clips through out. As for Repentless.... it’s the only album I listened to once and thought never again.
The first few though. Absolute classics.
Who’s up next? Metallica? That will take about 5 mins I’d say!
Altho i liked Divine intervention everything after this doesn't touch everything up to Seasons in the abbyss.
I saw them for the first time on the Divine tour in Newport Wales chaotic gig then at Donington MOR another blistering show I saw them a few lime after that and they were loosening momentum every time for me.
I couldn't get into anything after that altho God hates us all had it's moments for me , the last album is worth a listen but I think they perpousely made it sound like Jeff was playing to pull in old fans.
Not too shabby...
ready for the Metallica one?
@@AlanAverillNemtheanga yes
A song about cricket would've been good 😅
Yeah the second half of the career doesn't hold a candle to classics, poor Kerry stuck carrying the lads to the festival paydays.
I got SOH shortly after hearing RIB for the first time, I was dying for RIB Vol II, and I was so disappointed - disgusted even - by how slow it was and Tom’s attempts to sing properly, and lyrics about ‘social issues’ (except Spill The Blood, which I found strangely boring and tokenistically Satanic, with a ‘trendy’ acoustic intro). Exceptions were made for Silent Scream and Ghosts of War.
I’d have been 13, and just getting into Altars of Madness and Beneath the Remains, so it was quite a while before I realised how wrong I was about SOH, although I still think Cleanse The Soul is a blot on their 80s copybook, and Spill The Blood isn’t all that.
Next time: Dokken?
I really didn't have any interest in watching this because Slayer has irritated me for so long. I'm really glad I did now. I forgot how good those early albums were
Go riabh maith agat for the Slayer gig th-cam.com/video/zjBoQ0TERFg/w-d-xo.html
Does this dude really think he knows what he's talking about check it out I want to say one I'm going two album titles for you world painted blood repentless those f****** albums again set the bar at the end of slayer's career they are still on their own goddamn step people get to go and hang out there for a couple minutes but then they get to go back down the street and sit on the curb we all know who the speed kings are the only thing you got right is that you can judge everything by what Slayer did because they set the f****** bar there's a couple week albums I'm glad I didn't get to listen to him a whole lot because I was in the joint but after being on top this long they can make a couple albums that are a little bit weak wake up smell the metal and find a different angle to get on your soapbox and pick A part bands