Slayer - God Hates Us All (2001)^{Release ID: 68}

Slayer on their 2001 offering resemble a poor man's Hatebreed only with better lead work.  Nearly all semblance of their thrash routes are lost beneath a horrible mix and as a result Araya's vocals sound like he's formed a side project hardcore band.  There's times on this that the band remind me of a marginally more laughable Biohazard, such is the style of the direction here.

It all just feels like smash n' grab, juvenile shouty music and is a massive disappointment for any longtime fan of the group.  I mean, I thought Metallica had dropped the ball post the black album but fuck me this is up there with "St Anger" as one of the all time turkeys ever recorded by an established artist.  The frenzied pace is still most definitely there and the aggression that sits behind too is just as familiar, it is just somehow completely off in terms of the delivery.

I can see how younger listeners would enjoy it more than a seasoned thrasher would as somehow it retains an air of accessibility throughout but then again it also reeks of a band trying too hard to stay relevant.

Given my disappointment with Slayer’s previous outing I wasn’t exactly holding my breath in anticipation when it came to 2001’s “God Hates Us All”. 1998’s “Diabolus In Musica” was a strange release that seemed to indicate that the band had little idea of what direction to take at that point in their careers. They’d clearly decided that it was time for a change but had then only half-committed to it which had resulted in an unconvincing effort that wasn’t helped by an inadequate production job. There were certainly some promising elements but these were cancelled out by some very ordinary ones. So if Slayer were to get back on track then they would have to do it with confidence & an erected middle finger pointed squarely at their detractors.  

I’ll be perfectly honest & say that (although I don’t subscribe to the thought that artists hold any obligation to their fan base around staying true to their musical roots) I was generally horrified by the nu-metal moments on “Diabolus In Musica”. It was an indication that even the great Slayer could be tempted by the lure of popularity & wealth. The motive behind their newly-detuned guitar sound was also a concern & I was left with a number of questions. Would they return to their pure thrash metal roots or would they continue further in the nu-metal direction they had hinted at? If so, would they fully commit to it & make a better fist of it this time? Interestingly the answers to these questions didn’t end up being as straight forward as I thought they might be.  

Firstly, whether you like the end result or not it’s hard to deny that “God Hates Us All” has a much more defined concept & purpose than its predecessor. There’s none of the genre-jumping & inconsistency that plagued “Diabolus In Musica” & the band seemed to have a much better understanding of what they were trying to achieve. All the songs are working towards a common goal & that goal seems to be to blow your head off with aggression & hate. This is one angry record! Sure they’ve made angry records before but they’ve generally had more variety & progression than this one. There are none of the more brooding & atmospheric tracks that we’ve grown accustomed to hearing since the late 1980’s. The production really accentuates the crushing heaviness of the music but it also causes a lot of the record to sound a little samey.  

Style-wise this is a very different Slayer to the one I grew up with too. The continued use of detuned guitars is noteworthy but there isn’t much in the way of the nu-metal rubbish that plagued “Diabolus In Musica”. It may pop up every so often but there aren’t any songs that are primarily driven by that sound. That’s not to say that we have a return to the classic Slayer thrash metal sound that we all know & love either though. Their trademark thrash sound has been fused with a combination of ultra-aggressive hardcore punk & some very obviously Machine Head-influenced groove metal. I’m not much of a fan of either of those sounds so my first listen was a bit of a struggle but as I grew more familiar with the material it started to dawn on me that while it may not be the Slayer I know so well it’s still a bloody intense & professionally put together metal record.  

The album opens with a weird & fairly pedestrian intro track called “Darkness Of Christ” which doesn’t really work & is probably the weakest moment on the record however that lull is promptly F’d in the A when the massive “Disciple” kicks in. It’s comfortably my album highlight & it pretty much leads into pure carnage all the way after that. This makes it difficult to pick out individual tracks as there is a pretty consistent feel across the record but “Exile” is another standout. There are certainly some weaker moments (like “New Faith” & “Here Comes The Pain” for instance) but the ultra-heavy production does tend to carry them to an extent. I also feel that the flatter tracks generally coincide with the more obvious Machine Head-isms. In all honesty there is stuff on this record that sounds disturbingly like that band & although it’s very well done I find it a bit hard to accept that the great Slayer has stooped to mere emulation of a popular style &/or artist. Having said that it’s also difficult to deny the enthusiasm that the band shows across the board. Tom Araya screams like a madman throughout & although he’s pretty effective there are definitely some tracks that could have been improved by a different approach. It’s interesting that the trademark guitar solos have taken a back seat & are not the mandatory requirement that they have been across Slayer’s entire career. I’m not sure how I feel about that really.  

At the end of the day “God Hates Us All” is a very solid & professional metal release that ticks many boxes with me. Unfortunately I can’t deny that the more groove metal heavy sound does put me off a bit & I’d also like a bit more variety of feel & atmosphere but the overall anger & heaviness appeals to me quite a bit. It’s certainly an underrated album that deserves a little more appreciation than it gets.