Slayer
Coming from anyone else, this might sound like an idle boast. When guitarist
Kerry King of Slayer says it; it's a simple statement of fact. Almost 20 years
after Slayer first started blending the heavy riffs of metal with the anger and
violence of punk, the next chapter in the Slayer story will be written with the
release of GOD HATES US ALL. It's been three years since Slayer last
released a record, 1998's DIABOLUS IN MUSICA, but it's not like the guys
have been lounging around poolside, sipping mai-tais and waiting for the royalty
checks to roll in. "We started working on this record after we got done
with a long touring cycle, but prior to Ozzfest '99," says guitarist Jeff
Hanneman. "And like every three or four months, something would come up to
sidetrack us so we couldnt finish it. We'd have to take a break and learn
stuff for Ozzfest and come back, work for a few months, go in and do a WCW song
for a month (Here Comes The Pain), go out on the Tattoo the Earth tour,
last summer. Then we'd work for a few more months until we were asked to do a
song "Bloodline" for the Dracula 2000 soundtrack, and that
was the last break. Then we got our shit together, went up to Vancouver and made
a record."
Recorded at The Warehouse, a Vancouver studio
owned by Bryan Adams, certain alterations had to be made in converting
Slayers new environs from a studio owned by a lightweight Canadian pop singer
to something suitable for four men recording a 12-14-song album titled GOD
HATES US ALL. Slight alterations, like a chalked-out crime-scene-style
drawing of a body on the floor. Candles. Dimmed lights. Incense. Porn-covered
walls. All the little amenities that make a house a home.
"We had two banner flags that were of middle
fingers," says singer/bassist Tom Araya. "As you walked into the first
door of the studio, there was a Misfits skull that said, Eat a bag. The next
door you opened, there was a white flag with a middle finger pointed up right in
your face. You'd open the door to the mixing room, theres another middle
finger. That was basically the attitude of Slayer in the studio. We had a red
devil head on one of the speakers. We had a skull on another. That_s the kind of
shit we put up. Spooky stuff that makes you feel at home."
Slayer picked Matt Hyde to produce GOD HATES US
ALL, after his stellar work on "Bloodline" for the Dracula
2000 soundtrack. "He had a handle on every aspect of the recording. He
likes the band, he likes the music," says King. "He knew what we were
trying to achieve, rather than just us telling him. He knew what was going on. I
tell people he's God, might as well bring in the cross and nail him up to it
because hes the fucking best."
As intense a record as Slayer has recorded, God
Hates Us All found King and Hanneman stripping the songwriting down to the
essentials, trimming the fat and keeping the fury. "I didnt write the
usual Dungeons and Dragons shit, looking in the synonym finder for words I have
no idea what they mean anyway, " King says by way of explanation.
"This is a lot more how I talk, a lot more street. A lot of the topics are
things people can relate to and they_ll hear the street-style version, so I
think they_ll get more out of it."
Youd have to be deaf, dumb or dead to miss the
message of songs like "Threshold" or "Exile", which crackle
with the unchecked wrath Slayer, fans have come to count on.
"Threshold" is about reaching your limit in any given aspect, with a
person in a situation where youre about to break. You're about to
blow-up," says King. Exile is pretty much about a person -
everybody's got one - who is like the anti-them -- you just hate with every
ounce of your fucking being. It_s called "Exile" because you want them
away from you. You want to kill yourself so you don't have to deal with them
anymore."
King and Hanneman toyed with new guitar tunings on
the album, taking the plunge down to Drop B a couple times and hauling out a
seven-string axe for the first time in Slayer history. "A lot of people you
see in Guitar World say, "I'm not Steve Vai, I have no reason to play a
seven-string," says King. "That's like telling a drummer to play a
single kick drum, trying to tell him he doesn't need a double-bass kick. It
doesn't make sense. Or they cop out saying, I'm not that good. You dont
have to be good to make up a seven-string riff."
Slayer records begin with the drums, and Paul
Bostaph, timekeeper for half of Slayer's nearly 20 years as a band, says there's
a simple rule he follows in setting the brutal pace. "Rick Rubin once said
the perfect take is the one that felt like it was going to fall apart but never
did. I thought that was one of the wisest things I've ever heard and I always
try to go for that."
During breaks from recording, Slayer hits the
town, patronizing local bars like the Shark Club and the Cobalt Club and
watching nearly every hockey game the hometown Vancouver Canucks played. Singer
Tom Araya spent his off-hours reading true crime novels with cheery titles along
the lines of "Happy Like Murderers" to help him inhabit the minds
of murderous priests ("God Send Death") and a fallen angel pushing
drugs ("Cast Down"). "I use those books to spark my imagination,
to go into the role playing that I need in order to sound convincing. I need to
sing and make it sound like I'm actually going to do these things I'm saying.
They help out a lot with the screaming."
Let other bands break-up, try to "find their
sound" or record albums with symphonies. In the fickle, ever-changing world
of music, Slayer remains a sure thing. "I think I'm a fan first and
foremost," says King. "The difference between me and the people
watching our show is that I learned how to play guitar. For some reason, I know
how to make up riffs for Slayer and I get the opportunity to do that, so I'm
like the superfan. Its what I'm into. If I was going to start a new band
today, Id want it to be just like this one."
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