South of Heaven

South of Heaven is the fourth studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer. It was released in July 1988 on Rick Rubin's label Def Jam Recordings. The album was their band's second album produced by Rubin, following Reign in Blood (1986). Given the innovative speed metal pace of Reign in Blood, Slayer deliberately slowed the tempo on South of Heaven and used undistorted guitars and toned-down vocals.
South of Heaven reached number 57 on the Billboard 200. While some critics praised the change in the band's sound, those preferring the style of their earlier recordings were disappointed. The songs "Mandatory Suicide" and the title track have become permanent features of Slayer's live setlist. In 1992, South of Heaven was certified gold by the RIAA. The album was the band's last for Def Jam.
Background
The album was recorded in Los Angeles with Reign in Blood producer Rick Rubin. According to PopMatters reviewer Adrien Begrand, "Rubin's production emphasizes Lombardo's drums and places them high on the mix". Guitarist Jeff Hanneman has said that South of Heaven was the only album the band members discussed before writing the music. Aware that they "couldn't top Reign in Blood", and that whatever they recorded would be "compared to that album", he believed they "had to slow down", something they had never done on previous albums. Guitarist Kerry King cited the need to "keep people guessing" as another reason for the musical shift. The band wanted to contrast the aggressiveness of Reign in Blood by slowing the tempo of the songs and adding undistorted guitars and toned-down vocals.
King has been critical of his performance, describing it as "lackluster". King attributes this to the fact he had recently married and relocated from New York to Phoenix, Arizona. Describing himself as "probably the odd man out at that point", he said he "didn't participate as much because of that". According to Hanneman: "We go through dry spells sometimes, but the good thing about having two guitar players that can write music is that you are never gonna go without. I guess at that time, Kerry was hitting a dry spell." King has also been critical of the album in general, describing it as one of his least favorite Slayer albums. He felt vocalist Tom Araya moved too far away from his regular vocal style, and "added too much singing". Drummer Dave Lombardo has since observed: "There was fire on all the records, but it started dimming when South of Heaven came into the picture."
Judas Priest's "Dissident Aggressor" is the first cover to appear on a Slayer studio album. It was chosen because of its war-themed lyrics and because it was one of Hanneman and King's favorite songs. Meanwhile, "Cleanse the Soul" has been heavily criticized by King who said that he hates the track. The Slayer boxset Soundtrack to the Apocalypse featured, along with four songs off the album, an early version of the title track, recorded at Hanneman's home.
Photography and illustration
Artist Larry Carroll and illustrator Howard Schwartzberg were commissioned to design the album's artwork, having earlier worked on Slayer's previous album Reign in Blood. Photographer Glen E. Friedman took the promotional shot used as the back cover of South of Heaven, which he had taken around the time of Reign in Blood. Lombardo felt it made the band seem as though they "had matured a little bit", while Friedman described it as a "really cool back cover" and "one of the most classic shots of them [Slayer] ever".
The artwork shown on the front cover was inspired by KNM-ER 1470, an incomplete skull of an archaic human of the extinct species Homo rudolfensis that was discovered in 1972 in Kenya.
Critical reception
South of Heaven was released on July 5, 1988, and was the final Slayer album distributed via Def Jam Records. When label co-founders Russell Simmons and Rubin parted ways, Slayer signed to Rubin's newly founded Def American Recordings label. The album peaked at number 57 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and on November 20, 1992, became Slayer's second album to be certified gold in the United States. South of Heaven was awarded silver certification in the United Kingdom in January 1993, Slayer's first record to do so in that country. Alex Henderson of AllMusic described the record as "disturbing and powerful," while Joe Matera of Ultimate Guitar wrote that the slow pace did not inhibit the heaviness of Slayer's earlier music.
In 2003 Adrien Begrand of PopMatters wrote that the album was "their most underrated" to date. A positive review in 2006 by KNAC.com'''s Peter Atkinson described the album as having a "grandiosity and imposing presence". Grave's Ola Lindgren and Bolt Thrower's Karl Willetts both rate South of Heaven as amongst the top five albums of all time, while Max Kolesne of Brazilian death metal group Krisiun remembers hearing the song "Silent Scream" for the first time: "It just blew me away. It was like fast double-bass, fast kicks during the whole song. That was very inspiring for me." When discussing Slayer in an October 2007 interview, Evile frontman Matt Drake stated that while Reign in Blood "was just speed", South of Heaven proved that the group could write "slow material as well". Metal Forces reviewer gives "the band credit for at least making an effort to try something new and not being afraid to experiment at such a crucial stage of their career", creating "one of the more original sounding thrash / speed metal albums he heard in a long while". He remarks, however, that "if you're expecting to hear Reign in Blood Part Two, you'll be in for a major disappointment".
Kim Neely of Rolling Stone dismissed the album as "genuinely offensive satanic drivel". However, the magazine would later rank the album 47th on their 2017 "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time" list. Michael Roberts of Westworld Online said that some fan's disappointment of the album was due to some of the numbers moving "at the sludgier speed of Black Sabbath". Araya commented that the "album was a late bloomerit wasn't really received well, but it kind of grew on everybody later". Decibel inducted South of Heaven into the Decibel Magazine Hall of Fame in January 2013. Due to Hanneman's passing in May of that year, South of Heaven became be the second but final classic Slayer album to receive an induction into Decibel's Hall of Fame.
Cover versions
Both the title track and "Mandatory Suicide" have been covered, particularly on Slayer tribute albums. Toni Ferguson recorded string quartet adaptations of both tracks on the album The String Quartet Tribute to Slayer: The Evil You Dread. His version of "South of Heaven" was described as having "menacing" chord progression" by AllMusic critic Johnny Loftus.
The 1995 Slayer tribute album Slatanic Slaughter features three songs from South of Heaven: "South of Heaven", "Mandatory Suicide" and "Spill the Blood" were interpreted by the band's Cemetary, Crown of Thorns and Grope, respectively. Its 1998 follow up Slatanic Slaughter, Vol. 2 featured the album tracks: "Silent Scream", arranged by Vader, and "Read Between the Lies", interpreted by Anathema. 1999's Straight to Hell: A Tribute to Slayer collected four Slayer renditions which originated on the album, with versions of "South of Heaven" performed by Abaddon, (Venom) and Electric Hellfire Club, "Mandatory Suicide" cut by Chapter 7 and "Behind the Crooked Cross" adapted by Gigantor. The 2006 Argentine tribute album Al Sur Del Abismo (Tributo Argentino A Slayer) saw Nafak and Climatic Terra also respectively cover "South of Heaven" and "Mandatory Suicide".
Live performances
The songs "Mandatory Suicide" and "South of Heaven" became live favorites, and appear on the live DVDs Live Intrusion, War at the Warfield, Still Reigning, Soundtrack to the Apocalypses deluxe edition's bonus live disc, and the live double album Decade of Aggression.
Adrien Begrand of PopMatters described the album as "an unorthodox set opener in theory", noting that the "song went over like a megaton bomb detonating the place: dozens of inverted crosses projected behind the high drum riser, the sinewy opening notes kicked in, followed by an overture of bass, cymbal crashes, and tom fills, leading up to the slowly building crescendo" in a concert review. Lombardo remembers listening to a live rendition of "South of Heaven" and thinking, Man! There's just so much groove in that song.' To my kids I was saying, 'Listen to that! Listen to how groovy that is!' And it's heavy." A live version of the track featured on the JÄGERMUSIC Rarities 2004 promotional CD, given away to attendees at the Spring 2004 Jägermeister Music Tour. A live rendition of "South of Heaven" was included on a bonus DVD which came with the group's 2007 re-release of ninth studio album Christ Illusion, shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, during 2006's Unholy Alliance tour.
Because Hanneman disliked the track "Behind the Crooked Cross", it was rarely performed live. King said that he likes playing it because it's got "a cool intro", overall he also does not rate it highly. Similarly, he has said that he personally dislikes "Ghosts of War", although "everybody always wants to hear" it performed live. Slayer has considered creating a live set mixed with selections from the album and 1990's Seasons in the Abyss, though Hanneman said it is something which has not been "seriously considered". Metal Maniacs asked Slayer in a 2006 interview whether they would consider playing South of Heaven in the footsteps of the Still Reigning tour, to which Araya replied, "It's becoming a trendy thing now. I don't know. We have some really cool albums, but I don't think we'll ever do that again." King was equally unsure, commenting, "Probably not. And I just don't like enough songs off South of Heaven''."
Track listing
All music by Jeff Hanneman unless noted.
Personnel
Slayer
Tom Araya – bass, vocals
Kerry King – guitars
Jeff Hanneman – guitars
Dave Lombardo – drums
Production
Rick Rubin – production
Larry Carroll – artwork
Howie Weinberg – mastering
Andy Wallace – mixing
Charts
Certifications
References
Bibliography
Slayer albums
American Recordings (record label) albums
1988 albums
Def Jam Recordings albums
Albums produced by Rick Rubin