Divine Intervention [PA]

Performer: Slayer
Producer: Slayer; Toby Wright
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Slayer: Tom Araya (vocals, bass); Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman (guitar); Paul Bostaph (drums). Recorded at Oceanway, Los Angeles, California and Sound City, Van Nuys, California. Slayer: Jeff Hannerman, Kerry King, Tom Araya. What can you say about a band that can find, to quote one song title, "Serenity In Murder?" And that can write a poetic, detailed observation on the subject? Nothing that scores of critics haven't said about this shocking heavy-metal band for years, except that they're quite good at it. While their ultraviolent songs are figments of their overactive imaginations, the rage they give voice to isn't; things just may be going down the tubes. The first-person descriptions of rape ("Sex, Murder, Art") and necrophilia ("213") on DIVINE INTERVENTION are merely a leap of the imagination from the album's third-person attacks on war criminals ("SS-3"). Think of it as a character study of a man watching society crumble and crumbling along with it. Slayer's superfast, supertight metal, propelled by Paul Bostaph's machine-gun drumming, bottles that crumbling psyche into music that's almost as dangerous as the words are alleged to be. The speed-of-light vocal on "Dittohead," an indictment of the justice system, is sprayed out like lead from an automatic weapon. "Serenity In Murder" slows the singing down over a still-fast beat, creating a psychedelic thrash feel for a song that wallows in the deluded spirituality of a psychotic's act. In the title song, he meets his maker, who may just be the devil. "Who am I to judge thy grace?" he asks. And who are you to judge theirs?

Rolling Stone (2/9/95, p.58) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Musically, DIVINE INTERVENTION is spectacular. It careens along at impossible tempos, shifting from all-out hardcore ranting to percussive, dissonant riffcraft, often in a single tune....Slayer are one hell of a rock & roll band..." Entertainment Weekly (9/30/94, p.60) - "...the music's headlong charge toward the apocalypse demonstrates why Slayer is the speed-metal band against which all others will forever be judged..." - Rating: B

When death metal is mentioned, you can't help but automatically think of the genre's originators--Slayer. By merging brutal speed metal and scream-singing with disturbingly dark tales of death, the occult, and serial killers, the California quartet hatched a zillion copycat bands after its formation in 1982. Despite accusations of Nazism and instigating violence, the band continues to play, and outrage, into the 21st century.

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.25