Title Tracks: Slayer- Seasons In The Abyss

Slayer’s Seasons In The Abyss is my favorite album of theirs. As much as I love Reign In Blood, there is just something more intriguing about Seasons. There’s a complexity to this album and also a different vibe than their other albums. From the moment “War Ensemble” starts all the way through to the closing title track “Seasons In The Abyss” there’s no denying that this album is beyond impactful. The title track is quite a departure. It’s a slowed down song with Tom Araya almost singing. The lyrics too are a bit different as well since Tom Araya wrote them and not Jeff Hanneman or Kerry King. This album is a classic through and through. Even though Reign gets all the rah rah acclaim, I still think Seasons is better.

Slayer- Seasons In The Abyss:

Live Review: Slayer, Primus, Ministry, Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals at The Forum

This past weekend were the “Final” Slayer shows. It was very appropriate that they close it out in Los Angeles, seeing as though they are from the great LA area. What was originally going to be one show, turned to two after the first night sold out immediately. Then they announced the lineup of the show. Slayer would be joined by one of the most diverse lineups they’ve played in years. Primus was direct support along with Ministry and Philip H. Anselmo and The Illegals performing nothing but Pantera songs.

 

The night began with a ferocious set by Philip H. Anselmo and The Illegals. Their short but sweet set was the highlight of the night (other than Slayer of course). For 30 minutes, they really delivered the goods as they ran through their Pantera set. Starting with “Mouth For War” was a great idea as it really got the crowd pumped. “Becoming,” “I’m Broken,” and “Strength Beyond Strength” were absolutely killer as well. During “Fucking Hostile” Anthrax’s Charlie Benante joined the band on the drums and that one just about crushed the pit. “This Love” was a great choice to play as well, with actor Jason Momoa running out on stage with his kids to sing along. Closing out their set was “A New Level” and they really knocked it out of the park with this one. Phil was absolutely on and sounded terrific. The guys in The Illegals really did a stellar job with these songs. Having Phil and The Illegals open up this show was the perfect choice.

 

Ministry was up next and they were pretty solid. Though they played the same exact set as the did the night before. It had been a minute since I last saw Ministry live and with an entirely different lineup. One of the best parts of seeing Ministry this go round was that on bass they have Paul D’Amor, who you might recognize as the original bassist for Tool. Watching him onstage going all out was pretty great. The band’s set was all classic songs like “Stigmata,” “Just One Fix,” “Thieves,” The Missing” and “Jesus Built My Hotrod,” so that made this pretty cool. It was just lacking something that I can’t quite put the right words to.

Primus was right before Slayer. It was definitely an interesting choice. Throughout their set, you could sense that something was a bit off. The crowd was losing interest and the energy was sort of being sucked out of the room the longer they played. I even fell asleep for a good 10-15 minutes during their set. Primus are a good band and great musicians. I can also see why they were asked to be a part of this tour due to the long history they have with the guys in Slayer but, they really really zapped the room almost out of the show.

Thankfully it wasn’t long until Slayer took the stage and the place went ape shit. A short video preceded the band coming on stage. The video featured fans thanking the band for all the years of music and blah blah blah… FUCKING SLAYER!!! Then, the lights came down and the visuals started and bang, right into “South Of Heaven.” For the next almost 2 hours, Slayer ripped through songs like “Repentless,” Postmortem,” “War Ensemble,” “Stain of Mind” Disciple,” “Seasons In The Abyss,” “Hell Awaits,” “Dead Skin Mask” and “Chemical Warfare.” Gary Holt was absolutely ripping it up on his leads and seemed to be having one hell of a great time playing. Tom Araya seemed to be very contemplative as his sang and played. Throughout the set, he couldn’t help but smile as he took it all in. Paul Bostaph was straight up killing it on the drums. And Kerry King was very locked into his playing but, even he seemed to be enjoying the moment a bit too. Ending their set with the trifecta of “Raining Blood,” “Mandatory Suicide” and “Angel Of Death” was pretty awesome

 

It was a very somber yet exciting night. If this is truly Slayer’s last show, they went out with quite a bang. For a band that’s been at it this hard for over 30 plus years, it’s never easy but, when you have a fan base as dedicated and die hard as Slayer fans are, it makes it all worth while. Sure I would have liked to hear a few other songs other than some of what they picked to play but, that’s ok, I got the favorites I wanted. I’ve seen Slayer many times over the years and this was one hell of a show. The Forum was a great place to see them close it out. Thank you Slayer for all the years of heavy tunes and inspiration! You will be missed

 

Slayer Set List:

01) South Of Heaven
02) Repentless
03) Postmortem
04) World Painted Blood
05) Hate Worldwide
06) War Ensemble
07) Stain Of Mind
08) Disciple
09) When The Stillness Comes
10) Born Of Fire
11) Payback
12) Seasons In The Abyss
13) Jesus Saves
14) Chemical Warfare
15) Hell Awaits
16) Dead Skin Mask
17) Show No Mercy
18) Raining Blood
19) Mandatory Suicide
20 ) Angel Of Death

Primus Set List:
01) Those Damned Blue Collar Tweekers
02) Too Many Puppies
03) Sgt. Baker
04) The Seven
05) Cygnus X-1
06) Southbound Pachyderm
07) Mr. Krinkle
08) Welcome To This World
09) Professor Nutbutter’s House Of Treats
10) My Name Is Mud
11) Jerry Was A Race Car Driver

 

Ministry Set List:

01) The Missing
02) Deity
03) Stigmata
04) Supernaut (Black Sabbath Cover)
05) Just One Fix
06) N.W.O.
07) Thieves
08) Jesus Built My Hotrod

Philip H. Anselmo and The Illegals Set List:
01) Mouth For War
02) Becoming
03) I’m Broken
04) Goddamn Electric
05) Strength Beyond Strength
06) Fucking Hostile (with Charlie Benante)
07) This Love
08) A New Level

Ultimate Set List: Slayer

So, Slayer has annouced their absolute FINAL tour. They will be going out with quite the diverse line up featuring, Primus, Ministry and Phil Anselmo & The Illegals with the latter playing a set of Pantera songs. With this in mind, I thought now would be a good time to put together my ultimate Slayer set list.

 

Guideline 1: What line up of the band would it be

Guideline 2: Where would you want to see the show

Guideline 3: maximum 25 songs (In order of how the set should go)

 

Lineup: Tom Araya, Kerry King, Dave Lombardo, Gary Holt, and in a perfect world Jeff Hanneman
Venue: Forum, Los Angeles

Set List:

01) South Of Heaven
02) Angel Of Death
03) Piece By Piece
04) Mandatory Suicide
05) Altar Of Sacrifice
06) Dead Skin Mask
07) Ghosts Of War
08) War Ensemble
09) Hallowed Point
10) Spirit In Black
11) Divine Intervention
12) Eyes Of The Insane
13) Psychopathy Red
14) Blood Red
15) Criminally Insane
16) Reborn
17) Spill The Blood
18) Disciple
19) Seasons In The Abyss
Encore:
20) Hell Awaits
21) Raining Blood

Classic Soundtracks: Judgement Night

Back in 1993 there was a movie that came out that was pretty mediocre but the soundtrack was an absolute beast. I’m talking about Judgement Night. The movie had Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr, Jeremy Piven, Stephen Dorff and the great Denis Leary. The movie is less than memorable, though Denis Leary plays one hell of a bad guy. The soundtrack though became a cult classic and really was instrumental in bringing hip-hop and rock/metal together. Collaborations like Helmet and House of Pain, Biohazard and Onyx, Living Colour and Run DMC, Slayer and Ice-T really stood out as the go to tracks. Then there were others that were quite interesting like Pearl Jam and Cypress Hill, Sonic Youth and Cypress Hill, Dinosaur Jr and Del The Funky Homosapien. All in all this soundtrack was badass. There was even a collaboration between Tool and Rage Against The Machine but, neither band was happy with the end result so it didn’t make the album.

 

Judgement Night Soundtrack:

 

 

Tool and Rage Against The Machine- Can’t Kill The Revolution:

Op Ed: Why Slayer Calling It Quits Is A Good Thing

I was recently making a list for a new topic about bands that should call it quits. There has to come a time when a band says enough is enough. This just isn’t worth it anymore. A lot of bands stick around and become full on nostalgia acts and in some instances that’s ok. And then there are those bands that have just overstayed their welcome. With the news of Slayer saying that this upcoming world tour would be their last, I actually thought to myself, that’s probably a good thing. It’s better to leave with your dignity intact and feel like you’ve done all you can do rather than stick it out just for the sake of making money.

Top Ten Bands A-Z: S

The A to Z  list continues to find the top ten bands/artists in the alphabet. S is upon us and needs help to complete the list. S is going to be one of the most difficult due to there being so many bands that begin with the letter S.

As usual your suggestions are wanted in completing this list.

These are in no particular order as well.

 

01) Sex Pistols
02) Stone Temple Pilots
03) Bruce Springsteen
04) Soundgarden
05) Smashing Pumpkins
06) The Smiths
07) Slayer
08) Paul Simon/Simon and Garfunkel
09)
10)

 

 

Cover Songs: Body Count does Suicidal Tendencies and Slayer

Ice T and Body Count are a very interesting band. I’ll never forget hearing them with Slayer on the Judgement Night Soundtrack. Oh the 90’s you were so damn good! Lately I’ve been slowly checking out the new stuff Body Count has put out and it’s pretty good. Their last couple albums have featured covers of Suicidal Tendencies “Institutionalized” and Slayer’s “Raining Blood” Both of which are interesting and decent. Ice T took some liberties with the lyrics to the Suicidal song but, they are pretty funny.

 

Body Count- Institutionalized:

 

Body Count- Raining Blood/Postmortem:

 

Album Review: Dead Cross- Dead Cross

It’s not everyday that a project lives up to the hype these days. In fact, the majority of “new and exciting” projects fall flat and leave you with nothing but a feeling of disappointment. That is not true though of the new band Dead Cross. The band was originally formed in 2015 by drummer Dave Lombardo (Slayer & Fantomas), bassist Justin Pearson (The Locust, Head Wound City, Retox), guitarist Michael Crain (Retox), and on vocals Gabe Serbian (The Locust, Head Wound City, Retox), the latter though was replaced by the legendary Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, etc).

Let me just cut to the chase. The debut self titled album from Dead Cross is, 10 songs and about 30 minutes of blistering hardcore punk rock that will leave you one, wanting more, two, wondering where this style of vocals Mike Patton has been for the longest time, three, damn… Dave Lombardo really is the soul of Slayer, and four, Justin and Mike have really outdone themselves in bringing back a sound that has been often copied and tired but not really done right. There are moments that really bring out the Mike Patton we all know and love, from the time he spent with The Dillinger Escape Plan, when they made Irony Is A Dead Scene. Songs like “Seizure and Desist,” “Idiopathic,” and “The Future Has Been Canceled,”  really show that side of Mike. The rest of the album is full of Hardcore Punk meets Fantomas and a bit of Mr. Bungle. Other tracks like “Obedience School,” Shillelagh,” “Divine Filth,” “Grave Slave,” and “Gag Reflex,” are beyond stand out songs. The sheer magnitude of force that pummels through those songs and the rest, provided by Dave, Michael, and Justin, is astonishing. One other gem on the album is the cover of the Bauhaus classic, Bela Lugosi’s Dead. Just listen to the whole album and you’ll hear the greatness

Dead Cross is the type of band that is needed for today. In the age we are in and with what is going on, this is the type of energy that can help. The combination of Dave Lombardo and Mike Patton is always welcome and appreciated. The inclusion of Justin and Michael, really brings out something special in those two. I truly hope that Dead Cross is a band that will stay for some time. I’d really love to hear this band develop and become something kids can get inspiration and influence from.

Overall Rating= A

 

Seizure & Desist:

 

Grave Slave:

 

Obedience School:

 

PRE-ORDER THE ALBUM HERE (Album is out August 4th):

 

 

Album Rank: Slayer

 

Today would have been Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman’s 53rd birthday. So I thought, a fun album rank of all of Slayer’s albums is very appropriate. Here we go from their worst to the best.

 

Diabolus In Musica:

 

Repentless:

 

Christ Illusion:

 

World Painted Blood:

 

Undisputed Attitude:

 

God Hates Us All:

 

Divine Intervention:

 

Haunting The Chapel:

 

Show No Mercy:

 

Hell Awaits:

 

South Of Heaven:

 

Reign In Blood:

 

Seasons In The Abyss:

 

 

 

 

 

Classic Soundtracks: Spawn- The Soundtrack

The year is 1997 and one of the biggest comic books in the world, Spawn is made into a movie. Sadly, though the movie was wretched, but the saving grace of the entire thing was the soundtrack that accompanied the movie. Following a similar formula that worked for the movie Judgement Night, only this soundtrack paired rock bands with electronic artists as opposed to rap groups.. The likes of Metallica, Korn, Marilyn Manson, Filter, Incubus, and Slayer appeared on the album. This was definitely an experimental record that worked with certain songs, while some others not so much. The tracks by Filter, Incubus, Stabbing Westward, and Marilyn Manson are all standout tracks. Slayer teamed up with the very entertaining Atari Teenage Riot, for a rendition of “No Remorse.” that is absolutely nuts. So go back almost 20 years a have some fun listening to this!