Slayer 66 2/3: The Jeff & Dave Years. A Metal Band Biography.

by Ferris, D. X.

  “He is a work addict,” King told Oliveira. “I thought that drummers were only doing rhythm.... Paul does a lot more. He has a guitarist touch. He structures the song.”

  A sizeable contingent of the fanbase hated — and still hate — Diabolus. The naysayers claim Slayer had done the unthinkable: watered down their sound and chased the nü metal trend.

  At the time, the genre — also transcribed as “new metal” and “nu metal” — described the groovier, lighter form of metal that, at the time, was popular and spreading. In subsequent years, the genre became a punchline. But in 1998, it wasn’t synonymous with “shitty downtuned rock” yet. It was on its way, though, as credible leaders like Slipknot and System of a Down opened the door for bands like Disturbed and Drowning Pool. You can argue whether Diabolus is true nü metal. But denying the label takes some effort.

  “Death’s Head” is a soundtrack for a lose-your-shit moshpit, though its solo sounds a lot like King and Hanneman are playing power drills. King and Hanneman spend the bulk of the album tuned to drop-C. “Stain of Mind” features some sounds that are uncomfortably close to turntable scratching. The processed vocals in “Overt Enemy” have a bubbly underwater quality. Slayer are experimenting, and the results aren’t always promising.

  Diabolus is Hanneman’s album. He wrote the lyrics for three songs, split one with Araya, divided another with Araya and King, and collaborated with King on one, “Love to Hate.” He composed the music for ten of the eleven songs.

  Araya wrote one set of lyrics solo (“Desire”) and received a third of a writing credit for “Screaming From the Sky.”

  Distracted by his growing snake-breeding business, King wrote lyrics to five songs by himself, and contributed to another two. He wrote the music for just one song, “In the Name of God.” It’s another one of King’s direct anti-God rants: “Lies in the name of God / In this world of shit I exist / Perfect world conforms / I resist.”

  A thoughtful examination of mankind’s inner decay, “Stain of Mind” is one of King’s better post-trilogy lyrical efforts. The song survived in the set list after Lombardo returned. Lombardo might have made the rest of the songs even better, but the album’s elementary grooves aren’t compatible with his hyperkinetic style.

  The Japanese version included two bonus tracks: “Point” plays like a superior rewrite of Divine Intervention’s “Serenity in Murder.” It’s a slow-build power keg with lyrics by King and music by Hanneman, in which Bostaph drums his ass off. “Wicked” is a six-minute trudge with music by Hanneman and King, and lyrics by Araya and Bostaph — and more powerful drumming to boot. The tune is the drummer’s second songwriting credit in Slayer, which amounts to two more than Lombardo ever received.

  [Click here for album's full songwriting credits in Appendix B]

  The 11 American songs run 40 minutes. On a technicality, the Japanese version stands as Slayer’s longest studio disc, with 13 songs clocking in at just under 51 minutes.

  Diabolus isn’t the band’s most brutal moment, but it’s far from their worst.

  Writing for Blabbermouth, Borivoj Krgin later noted, “1998's Diabolus In Musica was at least a feeble attempt at incorporating updated elements into the group's sound, the presence of which elevated the band's efforts somewhat and offered hope that Slayer could refrain from endlessly rehashing their previous material for their future output.”34-5

  One of the album’s bigger critics played guitar on it.

  King has repeatedly criticized himself for not playing a larger role in Diabolus. In the documentary series Metal Evolution, King himself dismissed the disc as nü metal and compared it to a trendy, keyboard-damaged, glam-influenced Judas Priest album from 1986. Said King, “That’s our Turbo.”34-6

  In metal parlance, that is a damning evaluation.

  The rest of the group didn’t think it was that bad.

  “I like it a lot,” Araya told Midwest Metal Magazine at the time. “To me it's different, but it's still Slayer. I like what I did vocally, and it's a big difference. I feel I'm singing with more passion.”34-5

  Technically, it’s important to note what an artist has to say about his work. But all such self-evaluations should be substantially discounted until someone says, “My latest piece is mediocre, and it will disappoint even my most loyal fans.”

  King didn’t seem to mind this disc when it came out. Classic Metal Show host Chris Akin recalled interviewing the guitarist in 1998.

  “[King] was quite frustrated when I told him I didn’t like the release,” says Akin. “I believe his exact quote to me was that I ‘wasn’t mature enough to understand the band’s evolution on this album.’ I guess I’m still childish, then. I got what Slayer was trying to do with Diabolus in Musica. Simply put, it didn’t work. Kerry King once called this release ‘Slayer’s Turbo.’ That’s probably too good for this one. It’s more like their Lulu, St. Anger, and Risk, all rolled into one unlistenable mess of sound. In the end, this is the only Slayer release that isn’t available on my iPod, and with good reason.”

  Many other fans don’t remember Diabolus well, either. But at the time, it was as strong as any other leading metal, certainly the most metal Big Four release from that period. If Slayer didn’t deliver a metal masterpiece in 1998, neither did anybody else.

  "When we were writing this album, I was looking for something to beat,” Hanneman told Steffan Chirazi of Yahoo Music. “I wanted [an album] to beat, but nothing impresses me right now. Nothing sounded really aggressive or heavy enough to inspire me to beat it.”34-6

  After taking all of 1997 off, Slayer returned with one of their longest touring cycles. Pain be damned, Hanneman was ready to support his record. The group played around 110 shows in 1998, gigging deep into December, which they almost never did. Slayer followed that uncommonly busy year with another 60 concerts in 1999, most of the between March and July, which were split between headlining shows and a starring slot on Ozzfest. It was one of the rare calendar years that found the band on the road more or less constantly. Even in later years, Metallica and Anthrax would spend two straight years on the road. Slayer never mounted an endless tour.

  The band’s biggest touring year wasn’t its biggest tour. For the Diabolus tour, venue sizes were down. Months apart, the New York City dates were one-night stands at Irving Plaza and Roseland. The tour’s bigger shows took place at theaters and small arenas, with the bulk of shows at clubs like Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom, Pittsburgh’s Metropol, and many a House of Blues. (At this time, even the mighty Iron Maiden was playing clubs, fronted by replacement singer Blaze Bayley. Bayley was a former Rubin client as a member of the rockin’ metal band Wolfsbane.)

  On that tour, setlists typically ran:

  1. “Bitter Peace”

  2. “Death's Head”

  3. “Evil Has No Boundaries”

  4. “Hell Awaits”

  5. “War Ensemble”

  6. “Stain of Mind”

  7. “Postmortem”

  8. “Raining Blood”

  9. “Dittohead”

  11. “Die by the Sword”

  12. “Born of Fire”

  13. “In the Name of God”

  14. “Criminally Insane”

  15. “Scrum”

  16. “Dead Skin Mask”

  17. “Seasons in the Abyss”

  18. “Mandatory Suicide”

  19. “Angel of Death”

  20. “South of Heaven”

  21. “Chemical Warfare”

  Lackluster album or no, Slayer shows were still a bloody spectacle in the pit. Satisfying though the band was, something was missing. Even with white light flashing like lightning from behind Bostaph’s six-foot drum riser, even with the drummer putting his whole body into it, the “Raining Blood” intro wasn’t quite the same experience as Lombardo pounding it out.

  “‘When you see Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson punch, you’ll see thousands of other guys than can punch, but the execution is the point,” Lombardo tol
d me later. “The most important part of any hit, whether you’re a boxer or a golfer, your execution is what it is. Anybody else can make that shot, but your execution is what determines what comes out. A lot of people can do it, but they don’t execute correctly.”

  By the time the tour was over, the next album was underway.

  In hindsight, Diabolus is a good album, but definitely not a great one. The controversial disc sparks a question that haunts music fans. Which is worse: a band that makes essentially the same record every time — or a group that tinkers with its sound and creates a unwelcome departure?

  Click here to Google search “Slayer photos 1998”

  Chapter 35:

  God Hates Us All

  As the 21st century dawned, Slayer kept busy.

  In 1999, Slayer recorded “Here Comes the Pain” and contributed it to the pro wrestling soundtrack album WCW Mayhem: The Music, alongside Cypress Hill, Limp Bizkit, Megadeth, Metallica (a live cut), Insane Clown Posse, and Lyrical Giants.

  The group finally managed to record another quality older-school cover, Black Sabbath’s “Hand of Doom,” for the album Nativity in Black 2: A Tribute to Black Sabbath.

  Then they cut “Bloodline” with producer Matt Hyde (No Doubt, Green Jellÿ, Porno for Pyros, later Hatebreed) and served up the vampire-themed track for the Dracula 2000 soundtrack.

  Click here to Google search “Slayer photos 2000”

  The year 2000 saw a modest touring season, mostly European festivals, followed by a monthlong run in the package tour Tattoo the Earth. The band was second-billed after Slipknot, the one true metal band from the nü-metal era. A sudden phenomenon, the group was a platinum, pile driving nine-man machine whose fans were as obsessive as Slayer’s.

  "Slipknot fucking destroy me,” King told Metal Hammer in 2001. “I listen to them and even I feel intimidated…. They're a band I'm as obsessed with as the bands when I was growing up.”

  Opening acts for the tour included Sepultura, Downset, Nothingface, and Sevendust.

  Slayer played short sets about half the length of a headlining show, typically 11 or 12 songs, in roughly this order:

  1. “Mandatory Suicide”

  2. “War Ensemble”

  3. “Bitter Peace”

  4. “Death's Head”

  5. “Here Comes The Pain”

  6. “Dead Skin Mask”

  7. “Raining Blood”

  8. “Hell Awaits”

  9. “Stain Of Mind”

  10. “Chemical Warfare”

  11. “South Of Heaven”

  12. “Angel Of Death”

  Without an album to promote, the band was booked in mostly medium-sized outdoor venues that held between 5- and 10,000 fans, like Denver’s Red Rocks and Phoenix’s Manzanita Speedway. Smaller shows were slated for halls like the 3,500-capacity Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee. The next time Slayer mounted a major tour, they would use the package-tour principle to spring back into arenas.

  Diabolus had been a bold departure, but three years later, the band decided not to stray any further.

  The ominously titled God Hates Us All arrived on 9/11/2001. This time, King was determined to not repeat his hands-off approach. It is his album, through and through. King wrote all the lyrics for 10 of 13 songs. He had seven sole music writing credits.

  Working alone, Hanneman wrote music for five songs, with just one musical collaboration with King: “Bloodline” from the pre-album sessions.

  Hanneman and Araya collaborated on words for the other three tunes. Hanneman did not write a single complete set of lyrics. And he didn’t write any with King.

  [Click here for album's full songwriting credits in Appendix B]

  Slayer considered hiring Ross Robinson — the nü metal Rick Rubin, with credits for Korn, the Deftones, and Slipknot — to produce. But Hyde stayed on as a producer as recording shifted to Canada’s Warehouse Studios in Vancouver.

  “He's got a handle on regular recording boards, and he's got a handle on Pro-Tools, so we’ve got the best of both worlds,” King told Kerrang!. “Matt is big on sound and performance, so he's the right man… He's been really enthused by the stuff. In fact, he's more excited than I am!"

  Hyde mixed his initial two cuts. The rest are mixed by Sean Beavan, who worked on early Nine Inch Nails releases and remained with Marilyn Manson through that band’s career.

  Technically, God Hates Us All is more of a nü metal album than Diabolus. King tunes lower, dropping into D sharp. He even plays more seven-string on “Warzone” and “Here Comes the Pain.”35-3

  The band’s sound is its driest since Seasons, but with the added sterility of the digital age. Overall, the guitar tones sounds like industrial yard-maintenance machinery (which, in itself, isn’t a bad thing).

  Following an anarchic soundscape of an intro, God Hates Us All stands as the first Slayer album with a fairly flat opening track: At no point does “Disciple” drop into a whole new gear with a pivot in momentum, a lacerating guitar solo, or blood-curdling vocal.

  As the album progresses, its bland riffage sounds interchangeable with bands of the day — some better (Slipknot), some worse (American Head Charge). For the first time in its distinguished career, Slayer is merely keeping pace with the rest of the pack. In coming years, extreme bands would take Slayer’s speedy, dissonant, technical edge and — in one respect — leave the band in the dust. But the “faster is better” argument is like claiming a blazing trumpet player is innately superior to a simple, moving composition like Max Roach’s “Equipoise.” Once again, if King and Hanneman had failed to match “Raining Blood,” so had the rest of the genre.

  But in retrospect, God Hates Us All sounds better than it did at the time, and Diabolus has not aged as well.

  On this album, Slayer’s lyrical themes shift their balance away from fantastic lyrics. From this point on, the group’s records are dominated by real-world scenarios about the evil people do in the name of power, money, and religious salvation.

  One of the album’s contributions to future setlists is “Payback.” The straight-up, hardcore-influenced ripper almost justifies King’s growing body of first-person fuck-off songs, a growing strain of lyrics written from the point of view “I…” The simpler lyrical approach is his preferred mode in songs like “Hate Worldwide” and “Catalyst” — as opposed to larger, more imaginative stories like “Ghosts of War.” As an act of creativity, there’s a huge difference between telling people how you feel and crafting a compelling narrative, even when the latter contains elements of fiction. Like Metallica’s James Hetfield, as his band aged, King spent less time telling stories and more time telling fans what was on his mind. And King never stooped to terrible wordplay like “Frantic / Tick / Tick / Tick / Tick / Tick / Tick / TOCK!” like Hetfield did in 2003’s “Frantic.”

  (This career-long retrospective bags on King's lyrics from time to time. He’s written some of Slayer’s best lyrics, too. “Raining Blood,” which Hanneman started and King finished, is a first-person narrative — but it has scope.)

  God Hates’ original cover art reflects one of the band’s worse lyrics, from “New Faith”: “I keep the Bible in a pool of blood so that none of its lies can infect meeeeeeee…” The image depicts a Bible, dotted with nails, smeared in blood, SLAYER burned into it.

  The inner artwork is more sophisticated: The lyrics are presented as pages of a Bible, between segments of the Book of Job, the King James version. The Job passages are heavily redacted in black marker, which edits out latter-day additions that turned the story into a parable about the rewards of faith. In earlier versions of the Old Testament tale, Job is a faithful man whose estate and body are devastated at God’s whim, when Satan goads the Deity into testing his loyal follower.

  The bloody-Bible theme barely got off the ground. To ease things over with retailers, the label added a cardboard slip case with alternate artwork of four bronze crosses joined at their base, with a white background — to King’s considerable aggr
avation.

  With 13 songs, God Hates Us All falls just short of being Slayer’s longest proper album: Featuring three more songs than Seasons, it runs six seconds shorter, clocking in at 42:21.

  By then, Slayer reviews were beginning to follow a predictable template: 15 years after it was released, Reign in Blood was now an acknowledged classic. Since God Hates Us All, Slayer reviews routinely name-check Reign and imply the new album is their best since.

  Aaron Burgess, Alternative Press’s resident credible metal fan, called the disc “The most powerful, viscerally brutal album the quartet have released to date.”35-4

  Elsewhere, a new age of critical outlets was dawning.

  Now running the burgeoning metal site Blabbermouth, Krgin skewered the album, writing, “While God Hates Us All possesses some of the same ingredients that made Diabolus a marginally refreshing surprise, Slayer’s latest represents yet another failure on the band's part to take the initiative and reinvent themselves — a regurgitation of the group's past songwriting efforts in the hopes of pleasing no one but their most ardent and loyal fans.”