Ive been a Slayer fan since the Haunting the Chapel 12" was released and I have to say that they have indeed gone downhill. However unlike most of you, I think Divine Intervention was an awesome record. If you cant hear the speed, sheer brutality and old school style on songs like Killing Fields, Sex Murder Art and Dittohead just to name 3, then I dont know what to say. and SCREW your bad production whims.
I am soooo tired of hearing people bitch and cry about what they THINK is poor production.
Turn the fucking thing up and enjoy it for what it is - THRASH METAL!!!!!
Divine Intervention was so much more old school (fast, brutal and thrashy) than its predecessor, the alltime "commerical" Slayer album; Seasons in the Abyss which to me has only 4 great tracks: War Ensemble, Spirit in Black, Born of Fire and Hallowed Point, the rest is pure filler. Sure the songs are "ok" but they are nothing to rave about.
I laugh when people say Divine sucks, but they think Seasons rules, but too each his own.
When Seasons came out I was very dissapointed so I went into my first spin of Divine with a bad attitude that it would suck and was thrilled to hear the old sound and style had returned.
DIM like Seasons had 4 incredible brutal old school tracks: Bitter Peace, Perversions of Pain (man if you cant hear the Hell Awaits and South of Heaven overtones in this track then I dont know what to say) Screaming From the Sky and of course one of their most deadliest songs ever POINT!
The rest of the album with the exception of Scrum is utter SHIT and I would rather listen to Yanni than subject myself to the nausiating swill of the other 6 tracks on DIM. I found those 4 tracks to be a combination of the old stuff while still moving forward.
In fact, the 4 songs I mentioned above from DIM are 4 of my alltime favorite Slayer tracks.
GHUA only has one total shit song: Threshold, which sounds like a pantera song, however it lacks any songs that TRULY hold the old school Slayer sound at heart like the 4 I mentioned from DIM.
Sure songs like Exile and Disciple are fairly brutal, but as someone pointed out the signature old school Slayer sound is absent.
They need to go back to tuning like they used to, write more FAST and brutal songs and come full circle with the old school sound and style they helped pioneer.
I will go into the new record with an open mind, but I am not holding my breath.
Slayer so have the potential to make another awesome record as well as help out some killer metal bands, yet they keep bringing shitty bands to support them on the road. Id love to see them take TESTAMENT, EXODUS, VIOLENCE, NUCLEAR ASSAULT or DARK ANGEL along next time, but they wont because any of these bands would blow them away and they know that because TESTAMENT already did that in 91!
Its too bad because the newer generation of Slayer fans need to be turned on to some REAL metal bands!
my favorites are:
Reign in Blood
Hell Awaits
Divine Intervention
Show No Mercy
South of Heaven
DIM / SITA
GHUA
