South of Heaven, on Def Jam, is Slayer's latest Album. It once again proves that so-called thrash metal can be more than a sheer cauterizing blitzkrieg of frenzied sound. It also says something about television evangelists, Vietnam, child abuse, chemical warfare, religion, the insanity of murder, and the eternal struggle between good and evil. There's nothing polite about how Slayer says it. The lyrics, and the music, are chilling, unnerving, brutal.

"We write bluntly, explicitly and graphically," Araya says, "Kids go to see Freddy Krueger slice up a couple of kids in Nightmare On Elm Street. They come to see us for some of the same reasons. We tell little horror stories and instead of watching it in a movie, they feel and hear it."

Controversy about Slayer has included its supposed Satanic and Nazi leanings, not to mention necrophillia-subjects about which the band frankly was surprised at being so misunderstood.
"A lot of people are apparently confused," says guitarist Jeff Hanneman. "They think we're serious. We don't write these songs to start a controversy but to tell you the truth we don't do anything to stop it either." Araya adds, "The songs are documentaries and caricatures of real life. That's what we do best.
But South of Heaven may also shock some Thrash Metal fans. It is a great deal slower and heavier than the previous Reign in Blood, which was dubbed speed metal's finest album.

"We do things speed metal bands are afraid to try," Hanneman says. "We're just changing naturally, maturing and evolving as a band. We want to see what we can do. It's not a drastic change. The guitars are cleaner, Tom sings instead of screams, there are more melodies and there are some songs that might be played on the radio, but we still have our hard edge."

Slayer came to life in southern California in 1982 with Araya, double lead guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, and drummer Dave Lombardo. Their goal? To become the heaviest, fastest, loudest and rudest metal band ever. Playing music no one else dared to play, they had a rough beginning. If nothing else, they're proud to say, they were kids in rebellion, having fun and pissing everybody off. Before long Slayer took advantage of its unique mixture of punk sensibilities and metal music and won over the Los Angeles scene.

Slayer's independently released recordings (Show no Mercy and the EPs Haunting the Chapel and Live Undead) caused metal fans to take notice. Despite concert bannings in Canada and the United States, Slayer was gaining a well-deserved reputation for tremendous performances.
Says Hanneman, "People are fascinated by us on stage. We feed off each other's energy. If you could see that energy, it would light up the whole concert hall.

The August 1985 release of Hell Awaits consolidated Slayer's preeminence on the thrash metal front. With 100,000 copies sold in very short order, major record companies began to gather around. Siginign with Rick Rubin of Def Jam Recordings, Slayer became the label's first metal band, though Rubin was not unfamiliar with extreme forms of rock'n roll considering his success with Run D.M.C., the Beastie Boys, and LL Cool J.

Album number three, Reign in Blood, was produced by Rubin and the controversy surrounding Slayer exploded. Def Jam's distributor, Columbia Records, refused to have anything to do with the albu. Geffen Records, however, was quick to pick up distribution of the album in late 1986. Selling well over 500,000 copies, it charted in the Billboard Top 100 despite virtually no airplay on radio stations. Last year (1987) the band was also heard on the Less than Zero soundtrack with a metallic remake of Iron Butterfly's "In A gadda da vida."

Slayer records as intensely as it performs on stage. In its early days, the band would rehearse eight hours a day five days a week. The chemistry between the players grew close. The result is a firestorm of razor-edge rock'n'roll-one which overflows a stage and sweeps into audiences, where fans tackle each other in a mass slam dance. "That's good", says Araya, "considering the alternatives."

"They are aggressive kids and they release their aggression through the music. I know it's a release for me. I take it out on stage. After a performance I'm so relieved I got rid of that aggression. All we are doing is rebelling, which is what has always been the essence of rock'n'roll. One reason I think our fans are so loyal to us is that we are so extreme - and that's never going to change. Let's face it, our name alone scares people."