Customer Reviews

Seasons in the Abyss

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This is considered by most to be Slayer's peak. And who am I to disagree? This is Slayer firing on all cylinders. Every side of the Slaytanic machine are represented here. The guitars sound like chainsaws from hell and the drums are like machinegun blasts of the apocalypse. War Ensemble is possibly the most vicious recording ever captured. Tom araya's voice is incredible, mixing up vocal styles throughout. Thrash,death,doom metal,its all here. After the smoke clears Slayer stand far above the hordes of generic death and black metal bands and are still the most intense and extreme metal band on the planet.

This is defintely an essential metal album. Slayer is one of the greatest metal bands of all time. This was the last album Slayer made with Dave Lombardo (before they reunited with "Christ Illusion"). As "South of Heaven" was very slow and evil, this album was again upbeat and brutal metal. True thrash! Although I love "South of Heaven", I think that there's something in the speed that always gives me special feelings. Just listen to songs like "War Ensemble" abd "Born of Fire", you notice that everything's in control while they're out of control. Although this is more upbeat than SOUTH OF HEAVEN, this is not as uptempo as REIGN IN BLOOD. I think that this is much like HELL AWAITS or SHOW NO MERCY but much better produced. The last track "Seasons in the Abyss" and the fifth track "Dead Skin Mask" represent the slower Slayer and the both tracks are classics. ALthough this is not as scary as HELL AWAITS, I really think that this is better.
Stars: Seasons in the Abyss, War Ensemble, Blood Red

Just another great album by Slayer. Slayer is a band you either love or hate. If you like this album then you will probably like all of their other albums except perhaps for 'Undisputed Attitude' because it's mostly punk cover songs. Slayer has always been consistant in style and quality: they just never sold out like other speed/thrash bands like Metallica, etc. Otherwise, every album by Slayer rocks and this one is just as great with songs like 'War Ensemble', 'Expendable Youth' and 'Dead Skin Mask.' The ultimate mosh band. Enjoy!

I'm not a big slayer fan, but this ablum is really good. They did a great job creating this one. It has melody, yet far from being progressive. Really neat album. Some songs are speedy while others are slowed down. Well rounded album with variety.

Slayer is a legend in the heavy metal world. Maybe only Metallica can beat Slayer, and sometimes i think Slayer's sound is even better. SEASONS IN THE ABYSS in my opinion is the pinaccle of Slayer. It's a absolutely masterpiece. Maybe ALL the songs are gems! There's no filler. If you like thrash and heavy metal, i don't understand why you don't have this classic already.

Really. Very Atmospheric. Lyrics and songs have a image like quality to them. If you ever watched any of those 70's movies like The Devil's Rain etc you almost feel, as if your ears were your eyes, that this is a musical collage or mosaic of various things related to horror movies, world at war videos and anything related to marcabe, destruction and mayhem. This is Slayer at their best and most creative.

This Disc is when Slayer was at their Peak in my Opinon and i'm not a kid... Rock on!!. This Disc is so to the Point , Just like South of Heaven.