Seasons in the Abyss

Slayer | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 24, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony Legacy
• ASIN: B000RZGFZC
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #578 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #2 in Music > Hard Rock & Metal > Thrash & Speed Metal
  • #23 in Music > Hard Rock & Metal > Pop Metal

Editorial Reviews

Digitally remastered. Kerrang!'s #1 album of the year for 1990.

YEAR: 1990

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of their best, May 4, 2009

By 

A. A. Alting "diorules" (NL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seasons In The Abyss (MP3 Download)

Everybody's agreeing about Reign in Blood being excellent (and it is). Seasons in.. and South of.. appear to provoke a lot more YES/NO/BUT/THIS/THAT. And that's exactly what these albums are about. You'll have to listen twice if you're addicted to the speed of Reign in.. But if you're up to HEAVY, if you're looking for the absolute best in trash metal, looking for the best compositions, the best drums (hail to you Dave), Arraya at the top of his voice and riffs that are still being copied but have only seldomly been improved upon, this is the one to buy.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Disc, March 18, 2009

By 

Christopher Murphy "Thrasher" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Seasons in the Abyss (Audio CD)

From the blistering opening track "War Ensemble", to the crushing "Dead Skin Mask", to the title track reminiscent of Black Sabbath, this album is an entirely different experience from the "Reign in Blood" era Slayer, but still just as powerful and memorable. While the guitar work is still highly technical controlled chaos, and Araya's voice seems more mature, Lombardo's chops on drums are, as always, incredible. One particularly memorable moment is during a breakdown in the middle of "Spirit in Black", where he rolls the bass drum with machine gun precision.

From start to finish this album shows a mature side of Slayer that both allowed them to grow as a band post-Reign, and still showcased what they did best.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slayer's Epic Masterpiece!, September 28, 2010

By 

Mark Baum (Freeport, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seasons in the Abyss (Audio CD)

Now I don't want to begrudge those who dig Slayer's earlier classics. "Reign In Blood" is simply a blitzkrieg of fast and furious metal caught on tape. "Hell Awaits" is close to what can be considered "progressive" Slayer. "Show No Mercy" and "South Of Heaven" are also great albums.

"Seasons in The Abyss" takes the best of all those previous albums and results in a highly-nuanced and epic work. It has speed metal when you need it then tones it down to very sinister overtures. It is album that can't be said to be "one-note".

What really catches my ears and brain are the lyrics. The songwriting is top-notch and is more than the typical odes to the horned one. The brutal opener, "War Ensemble", is as close to Slayer penning an anti-war anthem from a solder's viewpoint along the lines of the first half hour of "Saving Private Ryan": It's about survival in the battlefield. "Blood Red" is a continuation of that theme of oppressive rule at gunpoint and, at the time, likening it to the "primitive sickle" (or maybe of Death itself) of the former Soviet Union. "Expendable Youth" totally demythologizes drug-based violence in the ghettos; violence which was only glamorized by "gangsta" rap groups where here you can practically envision the death as another stringer photo in a newspaper with detached matter-of-fact copy accompanying it. "Hallowed Point" goes even deeper into violence by starting out with describing what happens as a bullet hits its target and effectively tells an anecdote from a sniper's perspective. "Dead Skin Mask" effectively captures the horror of Ed Gein while "Skeletons Of Society" is prophetic about the fall of humanity: Think about how messed up humanity was then and look at it now; it's got worse as we're in the midst of WWIII.

"Born Of Fire" and "Spirit In Black" are the usual mythological tales about "Hell" and "Satan" that Slayer does quite well with. Also of note is that for all the tracks on this album these are the only two that I can consider mythological in their subject matter. And yet they are cautionary tales rather than outright worship.

"Temptation" is an interesting track about, what else? Temptation and the resistance thereof. What's more of interest is that the echoed vocal was actually a tracking mistake. Instead of merely being echoed it's as if one is speaking identically to the other, as if one is speaking with themselves. It was an accident which turned into something that brought the track up to another level so Slayer left it the way it is. It's what the late Robert Altman would have considered, "capturing lightning in a bottle".

Then there's the epic closer, "Seasons in The Abyss". The lyrics are deliberately open-ended so one can read into it any way they like though there is an emphasis on insanity, death and of imagery possibly depicting a lobotomy. The music starts with a slow dirge then goes to atmospheric darkness. And, just when the guitar sounds a bit less dark then it all just kicks in. The solos and rhythm leads are perfect! It is a perfect closer to a perfect album that Slayer has failed to reach in regard to its excellence ever since.

I consider it along the lines of 'tallica's "...And Justice For All" but with no infighting and much better production. This is an album that deserves a place in not just the metal aficionado's library but for everyone elses music library as well. This is well written, produced and played music with functioning brains at the helm.

It is, quite simply, a masterpiece.