Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
Slayer’s Seasons in the Abyss turns 20 tomorrow, according to Wikipedia and metal-archives.com.
To me, it’s the end of an era that began with Reign in Blood. That era was Slayer performing an incredible balancing act in terms of performances. Actual music aside, no other thrash band was as exciting to hear. By exciting, I mean the thrill of hearing people play as a unit – the pushes and pulls against time that characterize live performance.
Exodus’ Bonded by Blood had that white-knuckle quality. Metallica had that feeling on Kill ‘Em All, but lost it afterwards, when the drums got boomy and the majesty of the songwriting obscured individual performances. Megadeth inconsistently had that quality on their first three records. Anthrax lacked that quality, because Scott Ian and Charlie Benante were too good at locking in rhythms. Testament never had that quality.
But Slayer! They could make even a plodder like “Dead Skin Mask” creak with tension. (Could you imagine Metallica playing that song? It would be a limping hippo.) As the recent American Carnage tour proved, Seasons is flat in places. “Skeletons of Society” isn’t the longest Slayer song ever, but it sure feels like it. I was underwhelmed when I bought Seasons back in the day. Now that I’m older, I can look past the songwriting lapses and just enjoy the performances. King-Hanneman-Araya-Lombardo, with Rubin stamping out reverb: how sweet the sound!
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Also, now that I’m older – and especially after the American Carnage tour – I appreciate more than ever Lombardo’s contribution to that sound. Even his slow playing has a hair-trigger quality, like it could explode at any moment. I have fantasies of “South of Heaven” and “Seasons in the Abyss” forever remaining slow and turning into the best doom songs never written. But, no, Lombardo whips rumps and tips them forward into gallops. It’s not my favorite kind of drumming (I prefer Phil Rudd’s behind-the-beat pocket), but it’s perfect for Slayer. Lombardo’s unpredictable and explosive, which makes Slayer’s music unpredictable and explosive – which makes Slayer’s fans unpredictable and explosive. Who knows how many people Lombardo’s hands have sent to the hospital?
When he left, the band’s chemistry changed irreparably. Paul Bostaph is one of the best drummers in metal, but with him, things just felt different. (To bring up Rudd again, compare with Simon Wright’s and Chris Slade’s stints replacing him in AC/DC. It just wasn’t the same.) Lombardo’s back, but the songwriting is more hit-and-miss than ever, and modern production and mastering have steamrolled away the subtle, detailed tension that made Slayer so deadly. The red albums, the Rubin albums, the Larry Carroll albums – they bowed out with Seasons. RIP The Most Bad-Ass Band Ever, Slayer 1986-1990.
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SEASONS IN THE ABYSS: THE VIDEOS
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“War Ensemble”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OkYHiSFenM
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“Seasons in the Abyss”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPUe1nv4gIk
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