It is the tenth anniversary for Slayer's 'Seasons in the Abyss'. Happy birthday! One of the giants of 1980s thrash metal bands entered 1990s, and how!
I take this album as the best release from Slayer. It is not as fast or ferocious as their another flesh-ripping classic 'Reign in Blood' (1986). 'War Ensemble' opens the album with a fucking fast blast, but 'Blood Red' drops the speed soon. Of course there are a many parts and thrashing songs like 'Hallowed Point' and 'Born Of Fire' that keep up the pace. Deathy thrash metal at its best...
But what really steal the show are sick riffs and marvellous song structures. This is truly twisted and sick musically. All the trademark Slayer stuff can be heard on this record: The evil riffs courtesy of Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, warped incomprehensible solos, Tom Araya's shouty vocals, precise Dave Lombardo beats, everything. 'Dead Skin Mask' tells a story of serial killer Ed Gein, with small kid screaming and begging Mr. Gein to stop... Totally sick and horrifying atmosphere! The Rick Rubin production is tight and all the instruments are well audible in the mix. However, the sound is kind of dry. I can't think of any other word to describe it, but there's surely some tasty things like eerie acoustic guitars to enrich the dryness.
Lyrically this is discouraging and horrible, just like it must be, but this time more annoyed about society's crap. Of course other-worldly lyrics are also present. Fantastic sick-yet-naive cover artwork by Larry Carroll is what Derek Riggs' artwork was to Iron Maiden: A trademark.
The haunting title track ends the record and after that it's time to press play again! I can't never get enough of this, thanks to varying material. There's nothing more to say about this, except get this classic now if you don't already own it!
Rating: 9½ (out of 10)Reviewed by Lane
12/31/2000 14:55
When I first heard this album, my first impression from the recording quality was the absolute pits. But then something happened that doesn't really do: it grew on me and I understood with Rick Rubin as the producer, he achieved that "raw" sound in the lurk vibe, which made the guitars, vocals and drums more life-like. Like the music flowed well with that audio, that production quality. Again, it took time before I realized that this is what made Slayer dominate during the 80-90's was their old school type of recordings.
There is no into to this one just fast guitar riffing right from the beginning. Of course there's so much variety in the tempos here, the guitar riffs are thick, heavily distorted, with leads that are wickedly fast. Every song you don't know what to expect speed-wise. It goes from fast to moderate to slow. All of the tempos vary depending on which song you choose to pick out. This album is entirely original from every aspect.
Musically the riffs are really catchy and well thought out. An experience here is a good one if your genre is thrash metal. Riff-wise Jeff and Kerry put together some bar chords that are thick sounding, fast tremolo picked outputs as well, and moderate to mild and I mean mild like on 'Dead Skin Mask'. That song is a great example of exploring the life of a murderer Ed Gein. A child's voice is featured on that one towards the end of the song. Really eerie.
The lead department on here is still good. Hard to hear the difference between which guitar player is which, either Jeff or Kerry. You'd have to look on the insert to finalize who plays which solo. The riffs here are incredible. Fast, furious, ferocious, aggressive, unrelenting, then for varieties purposes, a song about a serial killer like I mentioned. Pure ingenuity on here. Amazing riffs that astonish the listener. The riffs go well with the lyrics too!
There is less focus on Satanism and anti-Christianity lyric-wise on this album. The lyrics talk about more about war that anything else. It seems like they put in an extra effort than just mindless evil, brutal words. More of dealing with like I said war and somewhat to dealing with politics plus anti-Christianity, though not that much. War is what comes out of this abomination than anything else. Very aggressive album.
If you don't own this Slayer album, do yourself a favor: pick it up as soon as possible! Talk about aggression here, hate, and just an overall chilling experience to listen to. Not knowing what to expect here is key, but once you've heard the album a couple or more times, the more it will make sense to you. Slayer totally captivates thrash metal and plays it with vigor. All of the guitars, vocals and drums are an especially violent revolution. Own it now!
Rating: 9 (out of 10) ratings explained
Reviewed by Death 8699
07/29/2012 22:24
