THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 27, 1995 TAG: 9502250046
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUE SMALLWOOD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
ANTHRAX, MEGADETH, Metallica and Slayer - the four cornerstones of thrash-metal, the extreme punk and heavy metal hybrid marked by apocalyptic speed, snarling vocals and often brutally violent imagery.
But while Megadeth and Metallica - as well as Anthrax, to some degree - have softened their sound and found crossover commercial success, Slayer has returned from a four-year recording hiatus with its most intense effort to date.
In typically polemical Slayer style, murder, rape and cannibalism are recurrent motifs on ``Divine Intervention,'' the group's latest raging slab. The album was produced by the band with guidance from Rick Rubin, who heads Slayer's label, American Recordings.
There was no pressure to duplicate those other thrash bands' platinum sales figures, though, says guitarist Jeff Hanneman. At least not from American, also home to defiantly nonconformist acts such as MC 900 Ft. Jesus, Danzig and Johnny Cash.
``Not Rick Rubin, he knew what we were going to do and basically left us alone,'' Hanneman said in a phone interview from Toronto. ``Warner Brothers (American's distribution company) wanted us to go back in and do another track that was more radio-worthy. We were like, `If we go back in and do another song it's going to be just like this stuff.' When we write, we definitely don't look for radio material.''
Lack of radio hits has hardly hurt Slayer's sales, however. ``Divine Intervention'' debuted late last year at No. 8 on Billboard's albums chart and was recently certified gold, along with earlier efforts ``Reign in Blood,'' ``South of Heaven'' and ``Seasons in the Abyss.''
Slayer - Hanneman and guitarist Kerry King, bassist/vocalist Tom Araya and new drummer Paul Bostaph - have always worked in contentious subject matter; Slayer's been dubbed a Satanist band by some since 1988's PMRC-irking ``South of Heaven'' outing.
``That's what we were into at the time, when all that came out,'' Hanneman said. ``Like I've told everybody, whatever we're into when we start writing songs, that's what we're into. Tom's totally into, right now, serial killers,'' hence the Jeffrey Dahmer's-eye view of murder-for-love in ``213'' from the new album.
``I'm always into war, because I love how people fight each other all the time. Kerry just recently got into the political side of life, that's where `Dittohead' came from,'' a jab at the slap-on-the-hand inanities of the justice system.
Musically, ``Divine Intervention'' is distinguished by the dual guitarists' uniquely percussive riffing and Bostaph's impossibly fast double-bass drumming. Bostaph, formerly of Forbidden, takes up where skilled timekeeper Dave Lombardo left off.
``Dave didn't want to do the Monsters of Rock,'' a hugely influential heavy metal festival at England's Castle Donington, Hanneman explained of Lombardo's dismissal. ``We got a fill-in drummer and after that things just got worse and worse. He's a great drummer, we just didn't get along personally.
``We got lucky with Paul. We told him to learn five, six songs, he came out, tried out and Kerry and I just died.'' ILLUSTRATION: JUST THE FACTS
Who: Slayer, with Biohazard and Machine Head
When:7 p.m. Thursday
Where: The Boathouse, Norfolk
More info: Tickets: $15.50 advance. 622-6395. To order, call
671-8100.
by CNB