Wednesday, November 12, 2008

14. Slayer - Diabolus in Musica

I distinctly remember listening to this album for the first time. June, 1998. I slipped it into my car's CD player in the parking lot of the mall. The slow bass of "Bitter Peace" kicked in. A trudging kind of metal, heavy in the pit of your stomach. And then the short break in the song where it gets quiet, then you can feel the build up coming, the drums rolling, and...dude. Holy shit. Speeeeeeed! Yes!! You could hear the old Slayer hardcore influence loud and clear. And I knew that at that very minute, there were thousands of other Slayer fans listening to this album for the first time and feeling a little let down.

I knew after my first full listen that most Slayer fans wouldn't like the album. In fact, quite a few of them called it Slayer’s worst album ever. Sure, it's not Reign in Blood, but why would you want every album to be the same? It’s still got war and destruction and blood and Satan. The guts haven’t changed, just the structure. Would it help if I told you that if you play In the Name of God backwards, it says “Kill everyone! Satan rules! Light churches on fire!”? Yea, really. Go try it! I’ll be over here enjoying this album for what it is while you listen for something you just aren’t going to get.

Favorite song: Stain of Mind
Official Slayer site

3 comments:

Sigivald said...

The only song on that that really grabbed me was "Overt Enemy".

(Then again, while I like Reign, I think that overall South of Heaven is a better album, which makes me some sort of heretic anyway.

And those people who thought Diabolus was the worst Slayer album ever must not have bought Undisputed Attitude, for which I can't blame them at all.)

michele said...

I LOVE undisputed attitude. I'll review it tomorrow and let you know why.

Cullen said...

You know, I recognize that Reign in Blood is the more important album, I always liked South of Heaven a lot more. When they came out with Seasons and said, "This is album we were trying to make when we made South of Heaven," I was offended. SoH was unique among their peers. To this day I find it one of the most listenable metal albums from that era.

Speaking of which, Michele, I'd love to hear your thoughts on ST's How Will I Laugh Tomorrow ...