Slayer - South of Heaven: Underrated Album Review

Welcome to “Underrated Album Reviews” were we switch it up a bit by talking positively about an album that doesn’t deserve the hate it gets.

In the metal community, Slayer is just one of those bands were everyone just agrees that they’re good. Slayer being good is in the public conscious like Star Wars is a good movie, no matter how you may end up feeling about it personally. But at their core, I’ve never gotten the excitement about Slayer. Sure, back in high school, when I first discovered Slayer, I thought nothing could be better. Reign In Blood’s energy and speed blew me away upon first listen (even if it doesn’t really hold up today), the speed and technical power of War Ensamble was one of the reasons I picked up a guitar, and South of Heaven is the reason why Slayer still makes sense to me today.

Upon its release, South of Heaven was considered by die hard Slayer fans to be a giant middle finger. Coming off the success of Reign In Blood, Slayer’s name had become synonymous with speed. If Slayer wasn’t playing fast, they weren’t making good music. It’s a mentality that has pigeon-holed Slayer for decades, but more on that later. What I never understood is the reason why Slayer die-hards dislike this album so much. The most common complaint I hear is “it’s too slow”. Too slow? Listen, I don’t really like doom metal, and drone metal can fuck off, but there is a difference between making music with a slower tempo to fit a theme, and whatever the hell Sun O))))) think they’re doing when they play 2 notes within an 8 minute period. Also, did you make it past the first track?

I’ll concede that the album’s title track is slow. Sure, it’s slow, but it’s also a bit more dense and complex than 90% of the songs on Reign In Blood. The distortion is tuned down a bit, and with that you can really hear every note that Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman play. It’s on South of Heaven that Hanneman writes some of his most complex material, with many of the songs featuring some progressive elements that follow a pattern similar to their first record. Fun fact, did you know Slayer’s Show No Mercy was written off as “fast Iron Maiden” during their debut? Well consider South of Heaven to be a slower “fast Iron Maiden”. Basically the songs are more complex, making them more interesting, and the slight (not complete) reduction in tempo should not be a deal breaker.

To me, South of Heaven is a turning point for Slayer. At some point, they realized that playing the open E string a bunch of times with slight variations thereof might sound a tad boring after you’ve heard it over a zillion times over the course of 3 records. I know I’m going to push some buttons here with this one, but early Slayer always sounded boring and cliche to me. Sure, for the time it’s fast and fun, but a lot of that early black metal stuff just ends up sounding the same: a bunch of angry guys playing the same notes with the same progression with the same lyrical content. It’s this really negative attitude towards anything that wasn’t fast that makes me bitchy over their follow up record, Seasons in the Abyss. As good as it is, I can’t help but feel the opening track (War Ensamble) is a direct response to the hate South of Heaven got. “There, see, we made a really fast song that’s incredibly similar to Chemical Warfare, Angel of Death and a bunch of other tracks we’ve already made. Happy now?” And the fans replied “SLLLAAAAYYYER!”

All that being said, South of Heaven does have its problems. Namely in the lyrical content. See, Slayer got its fans by basically talking about one thing: satan. Oh, and hell, but mostly satan. It was common in the 80s for bands to go to extremes to show off their bad-assery. Honestly, if we grew up in the 80s and saw Slayer outside of a show, we’d probably think they were giant edgelords. Long hair, spiky armband things, shouting things about satan and blood, it all seems kind of… over the top now, considering that we all know Tom Araya is a catholic, and the rest of Slayer are just atheists whose jobs just happen to be shouting about satan. As for how this affects the album; Slayer’s first album was released in 1983, from then to South of Heaven, there was a whole new 2 albums of material, and an EP, all with the exact same content and the exact same message: “SAAAAAATTAAAAAN”, and also “We are very badass”. Barring the few songs about subjects like war and abortions (see “Mandatory Suicide” and “Silent Scream”) Slayer returns to their old habit of yelling “SATAN” at the top of their lungs until someone pays attention to them. It’s a problem that Slayer seems to eternally have. Slayer’s gained popularity for being satanic, so they must be satanic at all times. The result is the gradual repetition of their records. Even when they aren’t being explicitly satanic they tend to use the same message of “anti organized religion” in the same style every time (see God Hates Us All). Slayer’s satanic themes got old with me after listening to Reign and South in succession in high school. I don’t see what the fanbase fawns over now.

In the grand scheme of Slayer’s discography, South of Heaven is easily my pick for their best work, and the only reason it seems to be held back is due to the fanbase not accepting anything but the status quo. Side note: ever wonder why they keep making Transformers movies? It’s because people keep seeing them and never venture outside their comfort zone.