NESTLED SOMEWHERE IN TIME
NO WARNINGS,
NO SIGNS,
TWO
SLAYER'S
(Because I Have Them on One CD)
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South of Heaven
is the fourth
studio album
by American
thrash metal band
released on
July 5, 1988,
by Def Jam Recordings.
The album was
the band's
second collaboration
with producer
Rick Rubin,
whose production skills
on their previous album
Reign in Blood
(1986)
had helped their s
ound evolve.
Given the frenetic pace
of
Reign in Blood,
Slayer made no attempt
to top it on
South of Heaven;
rather,
the band offset
and complemented
Reign in Blood
by deliberately slowing
the tempo down on
South of Heaven,
as well as by
utilizing undistorted guitars
and
toned-down vocals.
It was the band's
last album
released by
Def Jam,
although the rights
were transferred to
Rubin's new label
Def American Recordings
after Rubin ended
his partnership with
Russell Simmons.
The album was one
of only two
Def Jam titles
to be distributed by
Geffen Records
through Warner Bros.,
as Def Jam's
then-distributor
Columbia
refused to release
work by the band.
South of Heaven
became Slayer's
second album
to enter the
Billboard 200,
peaking at number 57.
While some critics
praised the change
in the band's sound,
others more accustomed
to the style of their
earlier efforts
were disappointed.
Nonetheless,
the songs
"Mandatory Suicide"
and the title track
have since become
permanent features
of the band's live setlist.
South of Heaven
was later certified gold
by the RIAA in 1992.
Background
The album was recorded
in Los Angeles
with
Reign in Blood
producer
Rick Rubin.
PopMatters
reviewer
Adrien Begrand
observed that
Rubin's production
"shoves [Dave] Lombardo's
drumming right up front
in the mix".
Guitarist
Jeff Hanneman
has since said that
South of Heaven
was the only album
the band members
discussed before
writing the music.
Aware that they
"couldn't top Reign in Blood",
and that
whatever they recorded
would be compared
to the album,
he believed they
"had to slow down",
something Slayer
had never done on
albums before,
or since.
Guitarist
Kerry King
cited the need to
"keep people guessing"
as another reason for
the musical shift.
"In order to contrast the
aggressive assault
put forth on
Reign in Blood,
Slayer
consciously
slowed down the tempo
of the album as a whole",
according to
Slayer's official biography.
"They also added elements
like undistorted guitars
and toned-down
vocal styles
not heard on
previous albums."
Seasons in the Abyss
is the fifth
studio album
by American
thrash metal band
released on
October 9, 1990,
through
Def American Records.
Recording sessions
began in March 1990
at Hit City West
and Hollywood Sound,
and ended in
June 1990
at The Record Plant
in Los Angeles, California.
It was the band's
last album
to feature their
full original lineup
with drummer
Dave Lombardo
until his return
on the band's
2006 album
Christ Illusion.
Seasons in the Abyss'
musical style
has been compared
by critics to
the band's
previous two albums,
South of Heaven
(1988)
and
Reign in Blood
(1986).
Upon its release,
Seasons in the Abyss
received a
generally positive reception
and peaked at number 40
on the US Billboard 200.
It was later certified gold
in the United States
and Canada.
By 2017,
it had sold over
813,000 copies
in the United States
since Nielsen
SoundScan inception.
Recording and production
The album was
recorded from
March to June 1990
in two separate studios:
Hit City West,
Hollywood Sound,
and
Record Plant
in Los Angeles, California.
Seasons in the Abyss
was produced by
Rick Rubin,
who had also produced
their previous
two albums
Reign in Blood
and
South of Heaven.
Track eight,
"Temptation",
featured an
overdub of
lead vocalist
Tom Araya's singing;
the vocal arrangement
on the track was
unintentional.
Araya sang the song twice:
once the way he felt it
sounded best;
the second time
at the insistence of
Kerry King
the way he thought it
should be sung.
By accident both tracks
were played back
simultaneously;
King liked the way it
sounded together
and so it was left
that way for
the final version.
Music and Lyrics
According to
Nathan Brackett,
author of
The Rolling Stone Album Guide,
Seasons in the Abyss
continued the
band's sound as
displayed in their
first four albums.
The songs on the album
have complex guitar riffs
that proceed at both
"blinding speed"
tempos and
mid-tempo hefts.
Brackett said that
the songs' themes
shy away from the
"fantasy and into the hells
here on Earth"
and instead was
"music to conquer nations by".
Deathmetal.org
characterizes
Seasons in the Abyss as
"an onslaught of sonic distortion"
with
"abrupt two-string chord barrage
and a rippling roar of
tremolo strumming",
which accentuates melody in a
"hummingbird wingbeat technique"
similar to
Discharge's
Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing.
The album also contains longer,
whole-interval phrases
and chromatic extensions
compared to previous
Slayer records.
The album combines
"grim" vocals
and
"frenetic" guitars.
Blabbermouth.net
said that the album is
"considered to be among
the genre's all-time classics".
"War Ensemble",
"Dead Skin Mask",
and
"Seasons in the Abyss"
were described as setting
the album's standard
and the songs,
according to the site,
produced a sound that
could not be
matched by
anyone else.
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