Thursday, November 13, 2008

19. Slayer - Undisputed Attitude

I promised I would do this one today after someone mentioned in the comments to yesterday's Slayer review that this is considered by many to be the worst Slayer album.

Of course, being the contrarian I am, that means I like it.

For many Slayer fans, Attitude was a hard slap in the face. Punk songs? They are covering punk songs? They felt it was a departure as well as an insult. Of course, these were the people who remained ignorant of the fact that Slayer was actually influenced by hardcore punk bands like Minor Threat. But hey, why let a little history get in the way of your disdain?

Maybe in order to appreciate this album, you have to appreciate both Slayer and bands like D.I., Dr. Know, GBH and TSOL. But a lot of punk fans hated that a metal band was covering these songs, and most Slayer fans knew nothing about these punk bands and just couldn't get into the album.

Maybe the handful of us who actually love the cover of D.I.'s Richard Hung Himself are the only ones who appreciate both genres of music? I think it's just that most fans of Slayer are in denial

Favorite Song: Richard Hung Himself
Bonus: The original, D.I. version
A fun filled review of the album from a Slayer fan

2 comments:

Cullen said...

Even being a fan of metal and punk I never picked up Undisputed Attitude. I like the songs I've heard from it, I've just never felt the need to go out of the way to pick it up. I like the originals better.

Sigivald said...

See, I like punk and metal too (and obviously Slayer).

But an album of covers?

Slayer'd done one cover in all their previous history, and that of an obscure Judas Priest song, which is, of course, metal.

And about dying in an endless war, which makes it all kinds of Slayerific.

(That and I've never seen the point of Minor Threat.

So a bunch of Minor Threat covers? Not so good.

I don't hate the album like a lot of people do, but I wouldn't buy it. I can't remember whether I did at the time, but I wouldn't bother now.)