Slayer
Diabolus in Musica

THE REVIEW

The '90s were a turbulent period for the seminal Slayer, a Los Angeles band dedicated to extreme music since the early '80s, marked by albums that were coldly received and members coming and going to fill the vacant drummer's seat (a daunting task, given that the first drummer, Dave Lombardo, has always been considered one of the best in the genre).

After a celebratory live album marking ten years of activity, a decent album of unreleased tracks ("Divine Intervention", 1994), and a pointless and largely unnoticed mostly hardcore-punk covers album ("Undisputed Attitude", 1996), the band set out to release an album of new material to reestablish their leadership in metal music. An operation not entirely successful, at least not with this "Diabolus In Musica" of 1998.

The first criticisms received by the album are the excessive "modernity" and the abandonment or downsizing of many purely thrash metal elements traditionally offered.

The first track, "Bitter Peace," immediately takes your breath away with the heaviness of the guitar wall and the very tight sounds of bass and drums; frontman Araya's voice is, as always, an extreme scream, though far from the growl and scream clichés in vogue. After this notable beginning, we move on to the second track, "Death's Head," decidedly hardcore in style with a decidedly successful groove.

The third song, "Stain of Mind," is, in its violence, decidedly catchy, bolstered by a modern riff and a chorus to scream live at one of their concerts (try it to believe it).

"Overt Enemy" is the next track, and it stands out from the previous ones with a slower pace, a heavy mid-tempo supported by a powerful rhythmic performance and a voice filtered through distortion.

The rest of the album moves along these lines, extreme metal that doesn't lose the catchiness of the song format, at least as far as tracks like "Love To Hate" and "Screaming From The Sky" are concerned. The beautiful "Desire" stands out from the others, supported by a simple but successful arpeggio that, along with the whispered or sung voice (yes, almost really sung), gives the composition a very dark atmosphere.

Surely in this album, there is some influence from the music of those years, perhaps most of all from the metal/hardcore scene (10 years before metal-core) of Helmet and company, but the gene of the Los Angeles band is not as distorted and disguised as ruthless critics have commented. Not coincidentally, this album closes with the track, among the 11 present, that is the most Slayer-esque, which seems like a distorted cross between "Hell Awaits" and a random track from Reign In Blood.

As already mentioned, it wasn't this album that revived Slayer's fortunes, as they preferred to revisit many elements of the past until the very old style albums (which were decidedly successful) that followed.

A great album, perhaps together with the subsequent God Hates Us All the heaviest, although understandably not suitable for those who yearn too much for Reign In Blood.