South of Heaven

South of Heaven is a work on which SLAYER, rather than repeating only the previous album’s ferocious speed, took in slow, heavy riffs, cold pauses and Tom Araya’s restrained singing. Even as the songs slow down, they rather increase in menace and pressure. After the overwhelming speed of the previous album Reign in Blood, it is an ambitious record that deliberately pursued dynamics and weight. On the title track “South of Heaven” and “Mandatory Suicide,” the band’s aggression has greater shadow. Songs like “Silent Scream,” “Behind the Crooked Cross” and “Ghosts of War” breathe the band’s deepened expressiveness too. A cover of Judas Priest’s “Dissident Aggressor” is also included. Extending thrash metal’s destructive power in terms of texture and tension, it is an important record showing a SLAYER depth that is not all about speed.