As you can tell, this Slayer release is either looked at pretty favorably or is completely despised. Me, I'm a fan of 80's era hardcore punk so I think this record is pretty good. I would recommend this to any fans of hardcore or thrash. However, if you're looking for something like "Hell Awaits" or "Reign in Blood", you'll probably want to look elsewhere. This is pretty much just a fun record to spin once in a while. You won't want to listen to this more than once around the same period of time. It starts to all run together after a while.
The album starts off great with four Verbal Abuse covers in a matter of 3 and a half minutes. "Disintegration/Free Money" features a lot of repetition, but it's very catchy. Same goes for "Verbal Abuse/Leeches". Personally I thought that Slayer did a better job with these songs than VA did, but not so much with their version of "I Hate You". Slayer's version falls rather flat. I don't hear much aggression in it, and the vocals sound like something you would hear on a Slipknot release. Verbal Abuse's original on the other hand sounds like a classic punk rock song. Slayer made a big mistake deciding to choose "I Hate You" as the single for this album.
Slayer also decided to include some originals on this that Jeff Hanneman wrote back in the 80's. "Can't Stand You" is pretty fast with some pretty dumb lyrics, but hey it's punk rock, the lyrics are supposed to be ****. "Ddamm" actually has some audible bass playing, something new for Slayer. The other original, "Gemini" is actually pretty good despite being ridiculously slow. The drumming and the clean singing (which i think sounds pretty good) make up for it. Surprisingly good stuff here.
Other highlites: "Violent Pacification" includes some pretty cool blast beats and has a nice slow part that speeds up towards the end. "Mr. Freeze" has a few catchy riffs throughout the whole song. The Stooges cover is generally pretty good aside from the terribly produced vocals. "Richard Hung Himself" is definitely an improvement from the original, with a heavier sound and some neat drumming parts. The Suicidal Tendencies and GBH covers are also pretty ****ing great too. Slayer should have put the GBH cover on all the versions, it's probably my favorite song the recorded for this album. For some reason Slayer totally ****ed up the Minor Threat covers. I like Minor Threat, but I don't think Slayer is the type of band that should be covering them. I just can't see Slayer relating to some of the topics Minor Threat did, aside from "Guilty of Being White", which is just retarded. Oh well.
So yes, this album is a good pick-up if you're a fan of hardcore punk, but please, if you want Slayer at their thrashiest, stay the hell away from this. Again, don't listen to this too many times in a row, you'll get bored of it quick.
Best songs: "Sick Boy", "Verbal Abuse/Leeches", "Abolish Government/Superficial Love", "Violent Pacification", "Mr. Freeze".
originally written by me on Metal-Archives.
The album starts off great with four Verbal Abuse covers in a matter of 3 and a half minutes. "Disintegration/Free Money" features a lot of repetition, but it's very catchy. Same goes for "Verbal Abuse/Leeches". Personally I thought that Slayer did a better job with these songs than VA did, but not so much with their version of "I Hate You". Slayer's version falls rather flat. I don't hear much aggression in it, and the vocals sound like something you would hear on a Slipknot release. Verbal Abuse's original on the other hand sounds like a classic punk rock song. Slayer made a big mistake deciding to choose "I Hate You" as the single for this album.
Slayer also decided to include some originals on this that Jeff Hanneman wrote back in the 80's. "Can't Stand You" is pretty fast with some pretty dumb lyrics, but hey it's punk rock, the lyrics are supposed to be ****. "Ddamm" actually has some audible bass playing, something new for Slayer. The other original, "Gemini" is actually pretty good despite being ridiculously slow. The drumming and the clean singing (which i think sounds pretty good) make up for it. Surprisingly good stuff here.
Other highlites: "Violent Pacification" includes some pretty cool blast beats and has a nice slow part that speeds up towards the end. "Mr. Freeze" has a few catchy riffs throughout the whole song. The Stooges cover is generally pretty good aside from the terribly produced vocals. "Richard Hung Himself" is definitely an improvement from the original, with a heavier sound and some neat drumming parts. The Suicidal Tendencies and GBH covers are also pretty ****ing great too. Slayer should have put the GBH cover on all the versions, it's probably my favorite song the recorded for this album. For some reason Slayer totally ****ed up the Minor Threat covers. I like Minor Threat, but I don't think Slayer is the type of band that should be covering them. I just can't see Slayer relating to some of the topics Minor Threat did, aside from "Guilty of Being White", which is just retarded. Oh well.
So yes, this album is a good pick-up if you're a fan of hardcore punk, but please, if you want Slayer at their thrashiest, stay the hell away from this. Again, don't listen to this too many times in a row, you'll get bored of it quick.
Best songs: "Sick Boy", "Verbal Abuse/Leeches", "Abolish Government/Superficial Love", "Violent Pacification", "Mr. Freeze".
originally written by me on Metal-Archives.
