Tag Archive for 'Slayer'

Reign In Blood - The Book

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JR
on June 2, 2008
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Reign In Blood - The Book

Continuum Books’ “33 1/3: Reign in Blood”, the first English-language book about Slayer, is now on sale. The book made its world debut at Square Records in Akron, Ohio Saturday, May 31. The first three copies were signed by author D.X. Ferris, on sale for a special price of $6.66, and numbered 6, 66, and 666.

“33 1/3: Reign in Blood” explores the creation of the most universally respected metal album, its long road to stores, its ongoing influence, and the history of the greatest thrash band.

Ferris conducted dozens of interviews specifically for the book, talking to all members of Slayer, producer Rick Rubin, engineer Andy Wallace, cover artist Larry Carroll, and Def Jam insiders from Russell Simmons to MC Serch. From Tori Amos to Pantera’s Phil Anselmo, a host of fans and artists discuss the record’s ongoing impact and Slayer’s status in the small fraternity of rock’s greatest groups.

Slayer’s controversial “Reign in Blood” set the gold standard for extreme heavy metal. The Los Angeles metal kings recorded their major-label debut with producer Rick Rubin (a future Grammy winner them known strictly for creating hip-hop) and engineer Andy Wallace (who would later produce Jeff Buckley and mix Nirvana).

Issued on America’s premier rap label (Def Jam) at the pinnacle of the thrash movement, the album is a seamless 29-minute procession of 10 blindingly fast songs, delivered in furiously precise musical bursts, with apocalyptic lyrics so striking that Tori Amos was moved to record a cover. The improbable team behind the record permanently fused classic rock’s technical proficiency, hardcore punk’s speed, and metal’s brute power.

“The book’s about three things,” says Ferris. “One, how ‘Reign in Blood’ came be, from Def Jam recruiting Slayer to its recording.

Continue reading ‘Reign In Blood - The Book’

Slayer Take Home Grammy

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JR
on February 11, 2008
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Slayer Grammy 2008

Slayer was honored with a Grammy in the “Best Metal Performance” category in the pre-telecast ceremony at the 50th annual Grammy Awards, which are being held tonight (Sunday, February 10) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Slayer was nominated for the track “The Final Six”, from the band’s 2007 limited-edition “Christ Illusion”. The song, written by Slayer’s vocalist/bassist Tom Araya and guitarist Jeff Hanneman and produced by Josh Abraham, is a chilling look at an hypothesized end of the world. The track made its debut last July as the “Single of the Week” on MySpace where it has since accumulated some 750,000 plays, an astounding number for a song that received no commercial airplay.

A visibly nervous Araya accepted the award, stating, “Thank you very much. I don’t know what to say. This is our second time. I have to thankSony, first off, for reissuing the record and putting this new song on the album, and now I’m here again — we are here again, actually. Most of all, [I'd like to] thank Rick Rubin [producer and head of American Recordings], who’s been with us, been there for us for the past 23 years, 24 years. Thank you. My wife, my two kids; Sandra [wife], Arieland Tommy. They’re here with me. Of course, my manager, who’s been with us for a good 20 years now. Well, thank you very much. Thank the Academy. Thank you.”

Slayer’s two previous Grammy nominations were for 2002’s ‘Disciple’ from the album ‘God Hates Us All’, and last year’s ‘Eyes of the Insane’, for which they took home the Grammy Award.

The nominees in this year’s “Metal” category were as follows:

AS I LAY DYING - “Nothing Left”
KING DIAMOND - “Never Ending Hill”
MACHINE HEAD - “Aesthetics Of Hate”
SHADOWS FALL - “Redemption”
SLAYER - “Final Six”

Only albums released between October 1, 2006, and September 30, 2007, could be considered for this year’s awards.

The Grammys are determined by 12,000 music industry professionals who belong to the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.

Slayer/Mastodon to Blitz Australia

Published
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JR
on January 18, 2007
in Gigs and Music
. 6 Comments

Slayer/Mastodon to tour Australia

Yeah, yeah stop your whining! I’m still alive. In fact, I’m better than just alive… I’ve been otherwise occupied and subsequently all you Dogmatic droogs have been missing out on the latest and crazy happenings of the counterculture cesspool we all seem to love.

And what better way to kick things back into order than with the announcement of Slayer’s forthcoming blitz on these here shores (most of us) know as Australia.

This is huge news for a Slayer die-hard like yours truly, but what is even more mindfuckingly amazing is that Mastodon will be in tow to really make this a double-bill not to be missed!

The dates are below. See you at the Melbourne gig. (I’ll be the one in the black tee!)

TOUR DATES:
April 12th Thursday @ Metro City, Perth
April 14th Saturday @ The Barton Theatre, Adelaide
April 15th Sunday @ Vodafone Arena, Melbourne
April 17th Tuesday @ Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
April 19th Thursday @ Riverstage, Brisbane

Slayer ‘Eyes of the Insane’ Video

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JR
on October 31, 2006
in Music
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Slayer 'Eyes of the Insane' Video

The new video for Slayer’s “Eyes of the Insane” from Christ Illusion is having its premiere on mp3.com today. Click here to check it out.

Directed by Iranian filmmaker Tony Petrossian (Slipknot), ‘Eyes of the Insane’ is a first-person narrative about the horrors leading up to the final moments of a soldier at war. The entire video is a single, long and tight close-up of the soldier’s eye with images clearly reflected within his pupil and iris and perfectly choreographed with the rhythm of the music. Reflected are disconcerting images of para trooping into enemy territory, gunfire, helicopters and tanks, explosions, poignant flashbacks of his wife and child and home, and the images of his death. Two endings were filmed — one where the soldier dies from his combat injuries, and the other where he commits suicide.

The lyrics for ‘Eyes of the Insane’ were written by Slayer’s bassist/vocalist Tom Araya and the song was inspired by a magazine article entitled ‘Casualty of War’. The article told the story about a highly-decorated U.S. soldier in Iraq who, a mere four days away from going home, had a mental breakdown that left him “seeing faces, soldiers’ faces.” He took his own life.

Over the band’s twenty-plus years together, Slayer’s music has dealt overtly with the brutality of war and religious fanaticism. Many of the songs on ‘Christ Illusion’, in particular, scrutinize America’s role in Iraq and Afghanistan and the shrinking distance between the Church and State. And a huge chunk of Slayer’s core audience are those blue-collar kids who enlisted in the military and are getting blown to bits.

The Land of the Free Censors Slayer

Published
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JR
on July 20, 2006
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Slayer Christ Illusion

Ah the good ole US of A. Fighting for ‘freedom’ in Iraq yet their own country is turning into a warped Christian Taliban. Many retailers throughout ‘the land of the free’ are refusing to carry the forthcoming new Slayer opus ‘Christ Illusion’ unless the cover is censored.

Larry Carroll, who did the cover artwork for Slayer’s ‘Reign in Blood’, ‘South of Heaven’, and ‘Seasons In the Abyss’ album, painted the original piece for the ‘Christ Illusion’ cover also. Working only from the song titles and early lyrics, Carroll has produced a classic Slayer masterpiece — a portrait of the Christ whose forearms have been chopped off, standing in an ocean of blood surrounded by floating, decapitated heads. (Now what in hell is offensive about that?) Carroll created the painting on a 4-by-4-foot slab of wood using a combination of mediums. Slayer guitarist Kerry King already has placed dibs on ownership of the original wooden canvas.

Slayer Christ Illusion

Slayer: Christ Illusion

Published
by
JR
on June 17, 2006
in Album of the Week and Music
. 11 Comments

Slayer: Christ Illusion

A new Slayer album doesn’t happen too often. In fact, it has been a laborious five years since the underrated ‘God Hates Us All’ album pummeled our eardrums on that fateful 9-11 day. Sheesh, if ever a band was created to be the perfect soundtrack for airplanes crashing into towers - then Slayer is it! So here we are, several years later and the band’s original (and definitive) line-up have once again joined forces to bring us another slab of Slayer nastiness! With drummer supremo Dave Lombardo back in the ranks, the band is whole again. Since Lomabardo’s departure, the band never really sounded like Slayer - such is his key influence and importance to the Slayer sound. The return of it’s master skinsman, the aforementioned Lombardo, had this particular fanboy chomping at the bit! So I’ve had the album for a day now and have managed several listens and I gots to tell ya, I’m really enjoying this one. The band haven’t sounded this sinister and visceral since the glory days of ‘Reign In Blood’ & ‘South of Heaven’ - the band’s finest moments. The band haven’t abandoned their Satanic overtones, in fact, they glorify them on this album and mix it all up with the almost pro-terrorist track ‘Jihad’ - a song written from the terrorist’s point of view(!) Now isn’t that gonna rile up the skirts of Christian Middle America? Hell yeah! Slayer are at their best when they shove their collective middle finger in the ass of all that is wrong with this world - and this album is sure to piss off all the self-righteous religious scum of the Earth on the eternal quest for their collective ‘good guy badge’. This is clearly Slayer’s finest moment in over a decade - just do not listen to this one when on your next plane trip!

Slayer: Christ Illusion

New Slayer Song on 9/11 Angers Victims’ Families

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JR
on May 30, 2006
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Slayer have sparked controversy with a new song about 9/11 from the terrorists’ viewpoint. The California foursome were fed up with other bands’ American perspective of the attacks on New York and Washington D.C. in 2001, so they wrote their own unique version.

Guitarist/songwriter Jeff Hanneman has angered 9/11 victims’ families with the extremist angled track “Jihad”, which will feature on their new album.

Guitarist Kerry King says, “In America every band under the sun has written their 9/11 song. And that’s why I didn’t want to have any part of it, but this is really cool. It kind of has an ‘Angel of Death’ feel because it doesn’t condemn anyone or say that anyone’s right or wrong.”

Can’t hurt sales can it? Not that Slayer have ever had any probs shifting units, but I’ve got an inkling that this won’t be the last we hear of this!