Divine Intervention [PA] (CD - 1994)

Recorded at Oceanway, Los Angeles, California and Sound City, Van Nuys, California.

The rock & roll landscape changed dramatically between Seasons in the Abyss in 1990 and Divine Intervention in 1994. With the rise of alternative rock, many metal and hard rock bands that had been enormously successful at the dawn of the '90s were struggling by the middle of the decade. Instead of doing something calculated like emulating Nirvana or Pearl Jam -- or for that matter, Nine Inch Nails or Ministry -- Slayer wisely refused to sound like anyone but Slayer. Tom Araya and co. responded to the new environment simply by striving to be the heaviest metal band they possibly could. Less accessible than Seasons but equally riveting, Divine Intervention marked drummer Paul Bostaph's studio debut with the band. Bostaph proved to be a positive, energizing influence on Slayer, which sounds better than ever on such dark triumphs as "Killing Fields," "Serenity in Murder," and "Circle of Beliefs." Characteristically grim and morbid, Slayer focus on the violently repressive nature of governments and the lengths to which they will go to wield power. And true to form, Slayer's music is as disturbing as their lyrics. ~ Alex Henderson

What can you say about a band that can find, to quote one song title, "Serenity In Murder?" And that can write a poetic, detailed observation on the subject?

Nothing that scores of critics haven't said about this shocking heavy-metal band for years, except that they're quite good at it. While their ultraviolent songs are figments of their overactive imaginations, the rage they give voice to isn't; things just may be going down the tubes. The first-person descriptions of rape ("Sex, Murder, Art") and necrophilia ("213") on DIVINE INTERVENTION are merely a leap of the imagination from the album's third-person attacks on war criminals ("SS-3"). Think of it as a character study of a man watching society crumble and crumbling along with it.

Slayer's superfast, supertight metal, propelled by Paul Bostaph's machine-gun drumming, bottles that crumbling psyche into music that's almost as dangerous as the words are alleged to be. The speed-of-light vocal on "Dittohead," an indictment of the justice system, is sprayed out like lead from an automatic weapon. "Serenity In Murder" slows the singing down over a still-fast beat, creating a psychedelic thrash feel for a song that wallows in the deluded spirituality of a psychotic's act. In the title song, he meets his maker, who may just be the devil. "Who am I to judge thy grace?" he asks. And who are you to judge theirs? minimize