Music Banter - View Single Post - The Playlist of Life --- Trollheart's resurrected Journal

Trollheart · 10-29-2013, 01:59 PM

Show no mercy --- Slayer --- 1983 (Metal Blade)

I will never be a fan of Slayer, let's just get that out of the way right at the start. And this will be no surprise to anyone, I know. However, having read about their beginnings on Wiki I have suddenly gained a whole lot more respect for them. This is a band who, if the entry is to be believed, and why wouldn't it be, just decided one day "Fuck it! Let's do this thing!" dumped their jobs, collected their families and headed out across America to make it bend to Slayer's will. That's a hell of a thing. They played gigs they hardly got paid for, survived on the breadline and really typify the rock-and-roll lifestyle. They used their savings to start up the band and rose to become one of the loudest, nastiest, fastest and most popular and respected thrash metal bands in the world. I don't have to like their music --- I don't, I never will --- but that sort of dedication deserves to be applauded.

So we're going back to their debut album, because really I couldn't close up Metal Month without including these guys, could I? And I've already sort of reviewed their classic "Reign in blood" on another of my journals. Besides, it's always interesting to see where a band started from, that mad, optimistic energy that characterises so many debuts, the idea that the band are gonna conquer the world. Which, in Slayer's case, proved to be the truth. Although self-financed and against major resistance from the good ol' PMRC (where would we be without them, huh?) they managed to make people notice them, not least because of the Satanic imagery used all over the cover and in the song titles, and Slayer were well on their way to becoming a force --- the force --- in American thrash metal.

So the first thing Slayer want to advise us is that "Evil has no boundaries", and they reinforce that by introducing the opener with screaming guitars, howling like malevolent demons (is there any other kind?) with a chorus of guys chanting "EVIL!" Yup: we get the idea guys. To be fair to Tom Araya, his voice is raw but hell, you can make out what he's singing, unlike yer man from Morbid Angel, though I know that's all in a style of singing. If Steve Tucker wanted to sing "properly", or let's say coherently, he could. Probably. Nevertheless, I'm glad I can at least make out what Araya is singing. Naturally, there are no long songs here, with the average being around three minutes and the longest just short of five, but they're fast, punchy, brutal and to the point.

What they aren't is different from one another, a failing I've noticed in the only other Slayer album I listened to. However, "The Antichrist" has some severely brilliant guitar, and as Kerry King has mentioned that this album has "some fuckin' Iron Maiden" on it, I would have to agree: there's a lot of the style of early Maiden here. It's all pretty breakneck but certainly enjoyable on one level. "Die by the sword" is a little more restrained --- just a little --- while "Fight till death" pulls no punches, Kerry King's guitars setting up an irresistable destructive barrage over which Araya snarls the lyric. Slower and grindier then is "Metal storm/Face the slayer", that longest track I spoke of. With a very Maiden intro on the guitar it builds up on heavy miltaristic drums from Dave Lombardo into something of an evil sister to "Genghis Khan" off Maiden's "Killers", both King and Jeff Hanneman outdoing themselves on the axework.

I guess the guitar instrumental stuff at the start is "Metal storm" and the rest of it is "Face the slayer", though there's not really any line of demarcation between them so I can't be sure. A fading in guitar like an approaching chainsaw takes us into "Black magic", the first of four songs on the album penned solely by Kerry King, and therefore not surprisingly featuring a shitload of guitar. It hammers along at serious speed, Araya's voice a deep-throated snarl and Lombardo just killing it on the drumkit. It's certainly a guitar-centric album, as the songwriting is controlled totally by the axemen, King writing four of the ten tracks, Hanneman four and the other two being collaborations between them. "Tormentor" hammers along nicely with some quite Dickinsonesque screaming from Araya, and some fretburning from King. Nice.

You know, it's as much as surprise to me as anyone, but this album isn't half as bad as I had expected it to be. I actually prefer it to "Reign in blood", which passed by in a blur of similar songs for me. This is not that much different in those terms, but I somehow feel I can relate to it better. I don't know why, but I'm actually enjoying it, after a fashion. Great guitar opening to "The final command", and as the shortest song on the album at just barely over two and a half minutes it rockets along at lightspeed, while "Crionics" (not sure if that's meant to be "cryonics"?) has a real Texas boogie feel to it, and then Slayer open the throttle full and charge to the end of the album with the title track, which just takes your ears, rips them off your head and shoves them up your ahhh you get my meaning!

TRACKLISTING

1. Evil has no boundaries
2. The Antichrist
3. Die by the sword
4. Fight till death
5. Metal storm/ Face the slayer
6. Black magic
7. Tormentor
8. The final command
9. Crionics
10. Show no mercy

That was certainly a surprise! I'd still never class myself as a fan of Slayer's music, but this was not half bad at all, and for a debut pretty damn, to quote The Batlord, bitchin'! Despite what I had read it was not the tangled, messy jumble of screaming guitars and growled vocals I had expected, and though it moved along at triphammer speed I could still understand it, come to grips with it, and even like some of it. Hey, wonders will never cease, huh?

But apart from my own personal feelings about the album, I can see why it was hailed as such a broadside across the metal world, can only imagine the effect listening to it for the first time back then could have had on the young headbangers and can believe the impact it had on the scene. Spawning of course a thousand copycat bands, seems like Slayer virtually invented the idea of thrash metal, which is I suppose why they're included as one of the Big Four.

I expect Tom Araya is glad he quit his job at the hospital and took Slayer on the road after the album's release. He surely hasn't looked back since.

Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slayer

10-29-2013, 01:59 PM	#2014 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Show no mercy --- Slayer --- 1983 (Metal Blade) I will never be a fan of Slayer, let's just get that out of the way right at the start. And this will be no surprise to anyone, I know. However, having read about their beginnings on Wiki I have suddenly gained a whole lot more respect for them. This is a band who, if the entry is to be believed, and why wouldn't it be, just decided one day "Fuck it! Let's do this thing!" dumped their jobs, collected their families and headed out across America to make it bend to Slayer's will. That's a hell of a thing. They played gigs they hardly got paid for, survived on the breadline and really typify the rock-and-roll lifestyle. They used their savings to start up the band and rose to become one of the loudest, nastiest, fastest and most popular and respected thrash metal bands in the world. I don't have to like their music --- I don't, I never will --- but that sort of dedication deserves to be applauded. So we're going back to their debut album, because really I couldn't close up Metal Month without including these guys, could I? And I've already sort of reviewed their classic "Reign in blood" on another of my journals. Besides, it's always interesting to see where a band started from, that mad, optimistic energy that characterises so many debuts, the idea that the band are gonna conquer the world. Which, in Slayer's case, proved to be the truth. Although self-financed and against major resistance from the good ol' PMRC (where would we be without them, huh?) they managed to make people notice them, not least because of the Satanic imagery used all over the cover and in the song titles, and Slayer were well on their way to becoming a force --- the force --- in American thrash metal. So the first thing Slayer want to advise us is that "Evil has no boundaries", and they reinforce that by introducing the opener with screaming guitars, howling like malevolent demons (is there any other kind?) with a chorus of guys chanting "EVIL!" Yup: we get the idea guys. To be fair to Tom Araya, his voice is raw but hell, you can make out what he's singing, unlike yer man from Morbid Angel, though I know that's all in a style of singing. If Steve Tucker wanted to sing "properly", or let's say coherently, he could. Probably. Nevertheless, I'm glad I can at least make out what Araya is singing. Naturally, there are no long songs here, with the average being around three minutes and the longest just short of five, but they're fast, punchy, brutal and to the point. What they aren't is different from one another, a failing I've noticed in the only other Slayer album I listened to. However, "The Antichrist" has some severely brilliant guitar, and as Kerry King has mentioned that this album has "some fuckin' Iron Maiden" on it, I would have to agree: there's a lot of the style of early Maiden here. It's all pretty breakneck but certainly enjoyable on one level. "Die by the sword" is a little more restrained --- just a little --- while "Fight till death" pulls no punches, Kerry King's guitars setting up an irresistable destructive barrage over which Araya snarls the lyric. Slower and grindier then is "Metal storm/Face the slayer", that longest track I spoke of. With a very Maiden intro on the guitar it builds up on heavy miltaristic drums from Dave Lombardo into something of an evil sister to "Genghis Khan" off Maiden's "Killers", both King and Jeff Hanneman outdoing themselves on the axework. I guess the guitar instrumental stuff at the start is "Metal storm" and the rest of it is "Face the slayer", though there's not really any line of demarcation between them so I can't be sure. A fading in guitar like an approaching chainsaw takes us into "Black magic", the first of four songs on the album penned solely by Kerry King, and therefore not surprisingly featuring a shitload of guitar. It hammers along at serious speed, Araya's voice a deep-throated snarl and Lombardo just killing it on the drumkit. It's certainly a guitar-centric album, as the songwriting is controlled totally by the axemen, King writing four of the ten tracks, Hanneman four and the other two being collaborations between them. "Tormentor" hammers along nicely with some quite Dickinsonesque screaming from Araya, and some fretburning from King. Nice. You know, it's as much as surprise to me as anyone, but this album isn't half as bad as I had expected it to be. I actually prefer it to "Reign in blood", which passed by in a blur of similar songs for me. This is not that much different in those terms, but I somehow feel I can relate to it better. I don't know why, but I'm actually enjoying it, after a fashion. Great guitar opening to "The final command", and as the shortest song on the album at just barely over two and a half minutes it rockets along at lightspeed, while "Crionics" (not sure if that's meant to be "cryonics"?) has a real Texas boogie feel to it, and then Slayer open the throttle full and charge to the end of the album with the title track, which just takes your ears, rips them off your head and shoves them up your ahhh you get my meaning! TRACKLISTING 1. Evil has no boundaries 2. The Antichrist 3. Die by the sword 4. Fight till death 5. Metal storm/ Face the slayer 6. Black magic 7. Tormentor 8. The final command 9. Crionics 10. Show no mercy That was certainly a surprise! I'd still never class myself as a fan of Slayer's music, but this was not half bad at all, and for a debut pretty damn, to quote The Batlord, bitchin'! Despite what I had read it was not the tangled, messy jumble of screaming guitars and growled vocals I had expected, and though it moved along at triphammer speed I could still understand it, come to grips with it, and even like some of it. Hey, wonders will never cease, huh? But apart from my own personal feelings about the album, I can see why it was hailed as such a broadside across the metal world, can only imagine the effect listening to it for the first time back then could have had on the young headbangers and can believe the impact it had on the scene. Spawning of course a thousand copycat bands, seems like Slayer virtually invented the idea of thrash metal, which is I suppose why they're included as one of the Big Four. I expect Tom Araya is glad he quit his job at the hospital and took Slayer on the road after the album's release. He surely hasn't looked back since. Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slayer __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 11-01-2013 at 01:37 PM.