Slayer - Jeff Hanneman home recording
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One day, as I was perusing Slayer’s discography on metal-archives.com, I saw this tucked between the Combat Tour Live video and Hell Awaits in 1985: Jeff Hanneman home recording. What?!? I tracked it down. Turns out it’s more of a riff tape than a demo. It’s just Hanneman with a drum machine. It’s also a rare opportunity to hear him on vocals. (Hearing non-vocalists do metal vocals is always a hoot – see Cannibal Corpse’s Centuries of Torment DVD.) After the relatively blah God Hates Us All, which Kerry King mostly wrote, I was convinced that Hanneman wrote Slayer’s best stuff. This tape disabused me of that notion. Riffs come and go without much logic, and the drum machine programming is hysterical. (Hanneman has an affinity for long, dramatic rolls.) Still, the riffs are enjoyably necro, and the excessive vocal reverb is charming. The track titles are provisional, though familiar bits crop up sometimes. The best moment is in “South of Heaven,” when the infamous intro riff comes in over huge, doomy drums. It’s almost better than the real thing.
DOWNLOAD – Jeff Hanneman home recording 1985 [19MB .zip]
