{"id":3973,"date":"1988-06-01T00:00:08","date_gmt":"1988-06-01T00:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=3973"},"modified":"2013-07-20T12:11:23","modified_gmt":"2013-07-20T12:11:23","slug":"album-review-slayer-south-of-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-slayer-south-of-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"SLAYER – South Of Heaven (1988) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SLAYER
South Of Heaven<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nDef Jam \/ London (1988)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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When Slayer<\/a> said back in Metal Forces<\/em> #23 that they were going to take a more experimental direction with their next record, they weren\u2019t kidding. Although South Of Heaven<\/em> is still undeniably Slayer, it\u2019s perfectly clear that the band have made an effort to vary their sound a bit from past material, and in the process they have created one of the more original sounding thrash \/ speed metal albums I\u2019ve heard in a long while.<\/p>\n

The record opens up with the title track, a slow to medium tempo cruncher that features some of the heaviest riffs Slayer have ever written. While \u2018Silent Scream\u2019 is typical Slayer at their high-speed best, with Dave Lombardo\u2019s intense double-bass pounding providing most of the songs face-ripping punch. \u2018Live Undead\u2019 starts kinda slow, but quickly builds up its pace before ending in a high-speed frenzy that sounds like something left over from the Reign In Blood<\/em> recording sessions. \u2018Behind The Crooked Cross\u2019 is probably the most \u201cdifferent\u201d track on side one, with Tom Araya actually singing for a change, instead of his usual growling. While the sides closing cut, \u2018Mandatory Suicide\u2019, is a mid-tempo grinder that lacks a little in overwhelming intensity, but makes up for it in sheer heaviness.<\/p>\n

Side two opens up with the ending of \u2018Chemical Warfare\u2019 (the band\u2019s 1984 classic) before bursting right into \u2018Ghosts Of War\u2019, another blazing scorcher that slows down about halfway through for some serious crunch in the traditional Slayer vein. \u2018Read Between The Lies\u2019 is very \u2018Raining Blood\u2019-like in its riffing style, except that it never gets any faster than just uptempo. Whereas \u2018Cleanse The Soul\u2019 is yet another high-speed ripper that wouldn\u2019t have sounded too out of place on Reign In Blood<\/em>. Slayer\u2019s version of Judas Priest\u2019s \u2018Dissident Aggressor\u2019 on the other hand sounds a bit pointless and kind of un-Slayer, although it\u2019s certainly one of the better covers I\u2019ve heard in recent times. While the album\u2019s closing cut, \u2018Spill The Blood\u2019, is by far the most adventurous track on the whole album, featuring clean guitar picking at the beginning, as well as in the middle of the song, and showcasing some more of Tom Araya\u2019s \u201csinging\u201d talents that remind me somewhat of old Ozzy in the Black Sabbath<\/a> days.<\/p>\n

Overall, I would have to say that I prefer the faster, more traditional sounding Slayer cuts over the slower, more plodding numbers, but I must give the band credit for at least making an effort to try something new and not being afraid to experiment at such a crucial stage of their career. Naturally, there will be the usual number of morons accusing Slayer of \u201cselling out\u201d upon getting an earful of this record, but the fact is that the band are simply expanding their horizons without steering away from the old sound, and if anything, they\u2019ve gotten even heavier in the two years since Reign In Blood<\/em>.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a diehard Slayer fan that doesn\u2019t mind hearing something a bit less speed-heavy from time to time, you will love South Of Heaven<\/em>, but if you\u2019re expecting to hear Reign In Blood<\/em> Part Two, you\u2019ll be in for a major disappointment. Buy or die!!!<\/p>\n

Borivoj Krgin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Review taken from Metal Forces, Issue 28 (1988)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SLAYERSouth Of Heaven Def Jam \/ London (1988)Rating: 8\/10 When Slayer said back in Metal Forces #23 that they were going to take a more experimental direction with their next record, they weren\u2019t kidding. Although South Of Heaven is still undeniably Slayer, it\u2019s perfectly clear that the band have made an effort to vary their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-slayer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3973"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13153,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3973\/revisions\/13153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}