Death is June -Looking Back in Anger at Slayer's "Diabolus in Musica"

This is the band's most divisive album. However, I have always liked it, and upon giving it another listen, "NU METAL" Slayer is not as different from thrash Slayer as hair metal Celtic Frost is from what Tom Warrior normally did, or as Disco Kiss was from what happened on "Love Gun". But I always like it when bands go into weird periods, as long as they are true to what they are going. This is the first Slayer album where they tune down to  C#, but it's not like Tom is slapping the bass and rapping. Kerry King just looked around the musical landscape of  1998 and knew they needed to tweak a few things to stay on the playing field.

I think what works best is not just battering you with speed, but rather retaining a groove. A song like "Death's Head" is marginally darker than your average Slayer song, though not as dark as their darkest moments when they write serial killer love songs, which is my favorite flavor of Slayer. I think one solid thing this album is finds Tom having to focus on his phrasing and ride the grooves rather than just yell as fast as he can. This results in hooky songs that are more relevant in today's musical climate, proving they may have been ahead of their time on this album. 

The more deliberate crunch of "Overt Enemy" works well despite being the most different from what they normally do. "Perversion of Pain" is the first song that feels like filler, as they are trying to remind people what they used to do. "Love to Hate" seems like they are very aware of the crossover fanbase they have in the hardcore scene. 'Desire' comes closer to the serial killer song vibe I want. While this album was inspired by what Slipknot was doing, there is a song on the last Slipknot album that sounds like this, so it's funny how that went full circle. 

"In the Name of God' is a great song, and it makes me feel like this slowing down was needed and a creative reset like the one they had with "South of Heaven' which no one cried foul about when it was released. "Scrum: finds Slayer playing it safe and going back to being the thrashing band you expect. "Screaming From the Sky' finds them being who they are, but with more nuance in the groove and darker guitar riffs haunting the drums. "Wicked" does this in an almost more accessible fashion, with the drums doing some interesting things under what seems like simpler, more accessible riffing. "Point" feels like it was tagged on at the end to remind you this is, in fact, the same Slayer you are a fan of. This album aged well and deserves another chance. I will give it a 9.5. Perhaps not as great as the best work, but better than what other thrash bands were struggling to do

 Check the album out below ... and visit our  YouTube & Facebook Pages as well! Thanks for Reading  

https://www.youtube.com/@abysmalhymns666

https://www.facebook.com/abysmalhymns

  . 

pst266