Slayer Album: “Soundtrack to the Apocalypse [WEA International]”

First of all - this is not the be all and end all of box sets. But this regular version is far from being a rip off (I even got it for only $39). Obviously, this set is a better deal for people who do not have all of their previous releases. But there is also some other stuff that hasn't been released before on the rarities disc and DVD that I think is worth having.

Let's break it down disc by disc.

Disc 1: This is a 'best of' studio track CD going from Reign in Blood through Season in the Abyss, plus three tracks from Decade of Aggression. I never bought Decade of Aggression so at least there is something on it that is not duplicates of what I already own.

Disc 2: 'Best of' from Divine Intervention through God Hates Us All, plus studio tracks from soundtracks and Japan releases. I never bought Undisputed Attitude or Diabolus in Musica. There are 14 tracks on this one that I don't have.

Disc 3: Audio rarities. Range from raw recordings from the very early days in 1983 to recent live cuts from God Hates Us All. Two of the most interesting cuts are from Jeff Hanneman's home recordings that give you an idea how Raining Blood and South of Heaven were fleshed out from the original concept. I could do without the 'maggot story' included with Necrophiliac and the track with Atari Teenage Riot.

Disc 4 (DVD): This is great. Some of it is pretty raw but you really get to see how the band has evolved from four inexperienced guys wearing eyeliner crowded onto a small club stage to the precisely executed chaotic auditorium shows of today. Please note that this DVD is primarily for the historical value for interested fans. If you want a top-quality concert performance with excellent audio and sound quality, get the War at the Warfield DVD.

The 72-page booklet also adds some value. It has some interesting anecdotes and is more than a generic rehash of the band's official bio.

So, if you only own a couple Slayer CDs this set should provide a cheaper alternative to getting the entire back catalog. If you have all the studio albums it depends how bad you want to hear the rare stuff and view the DVD. I think its worth it.

As much as I like Slayer's music, I am a bit underwhelmed by this box set. My primary complaints are two-fold: First, I think the arrangement of the songs (i.e. 5 songs from this album, 5 songs from this album, etc.) is boring and uncreative. Couldn't they have mingled the old with the new? Couldn't they have mixed live tracks with the album tracks? Second, the unreleased material is pretty worthless. The production is terrible and I don't quite see the historical significance. The packaging is good, particularly the booklet, but a pretty package does not make a box set great. Unfortunately, this set appears to have been quickly thrown together just in time for the holidays.

If you are someone just getting in to Slayer, I would not buy this set-- instead, spend your money on Reign in Blood, South of Heaven, and Seasons in the Abyss. I have never gotten sick of any of these albums and I doubt you will either. This sloppy set though, you will get sick of.

I'm a big slayer fan. I've seen them 6 times over the last three years, got all their albums, blah blah blah. I got the deluxe slayer set for xmas and while I like some of it, overall it's a huge ripoff.

1) Almost all of discs I and II are songs a slayer fan already has. I doubt that a non-fan would be buying a deluxe box set so discs I and II are a complete waste of time/space/money

2) Many of the "rarities" on this disc have been widely circulated in bootleg form. The diehard slayer fans who should be interested in this box set probably have them too.

3) Some of the rare live tracks sound really bad. There's some sort of weird miking or stereo panning on the toms so you can't listen to it on headphones without becoming very annoyed.

4) The live dvd is interesting but could have been better. At least show us a trip to the beer store like in Cliff Em All.

5) The bonus "blood pak" disc is a great live set with Lombardo. Sounds great, unfortunate that they decided to dedicate one disc to the concert so they had to edit some tracks out. Why not omit one of the greatest hits cds and spread the concert over two discs? Is this set supposed to be for the fans or what?

40 extra bucks for a cardboard box, a banner, a piece of plastic on a string, a cheeseball plastic disc case with BOTH red liquid AND glittering tinfoil skulls floating around in it. Oooooooh, scary. I might pay 5 or 10 bucks for this bonus stuff. Maybe another 5 bucks for the 70 page book. I guess that makes the live CD worth 25-30 bucks, which is a ripoff even if it is good.

In short this should have been a four disc set, no greatest hits, one disc of real rarities, one dvd with a beer store scene, and a two cd Lombardo concert in Anaheim. Leave out all the cardboard crap and charge less for it. It's sad that they chose to gouge the true fan instead of providing something their fans really want. They certainly had plenty of time to put it together. Sigh.

Can only recommend to diehards who need to buy everything slayer releases. I can't recommend this or the "Regular Edition" boxset to anyone else because that boxset seems to be aimed at slayer newbies, who probably wouldn't want to blow money on a boxset of an artist they don't know too well. I just don't get it. I'm sure it makes sense to slayer's accountant, though.

As a fan of Slayer who did not own too many of their releases I thought that this was an excellent purchase for the price, though I do not neccessarily think that thats the case with those who own all or even most of Slayer's releases.

The greatest hits portion of this collection, the first two CD's, is an excellet summary of Slayer's career and the main reason that I purchased it. It offes some of the best songs from Slayer's post-Metal Blade releases, which means no studio versions of any songs from Show No Mercy or Hell Awaits, though it does feature live versions of songs from those records from Decade of Aggression.. There are five songs each from most of their CD's, though their three releases after Divine Intervention only have three each. There are also a few extra songs, two from the Japanese release of Diabolus and two from the Japenese release of God Hates Us All, the latter being two excelent tracks, "Adict" and "Scarstruck". I could have done without the song with Ice-T, and the song "Memories of Tomarrow" (which I think is from the Bride of Chucky" soundtrack) was alrigt, though nothing special.

The third CD features live material. There are a few live versions of songs on the first two CD's, but the more enjoyable songs are the early versions of "Raining Blood" and South of Heaven" taken from Jeff's home recordings as well as live versions of a few songs not on the first two disks. The song with Atari Teenage Riot was pretty awful to be honest, but on the whole, this live CD is a welcome, if not spectacular, addition to the box set.

The four disk is a DVD with live performances (including some Show No Mercy tunes at a concert in 1983) and a few extra features like Slayer winning the "Heaviest Band Award" and a short video about the making of Diabolus. Its also a welcome addition to the boxset, though people who own other live Slayer material might not be too impressed as it doesn't offer too much thats unique.

The set also comes with a 72 page booklet, which is a quick though enjoyable read about the band's history and music. Its full of pictures of and quotes from the band, and further enhances the collection.

I would recommend this box set to any Slayer fan who doesn't own very many of their CD's as its a nice summary of their work. People with a complete or near complete Slayer collection should probably only get this if they need to have everything put out by Slayer, or if they really want the few extra goodies it offers, as it doesn't really have too much to offer thats completely new. A good box set overall, and certainly welcomed by those like myself who don't want to spend too much completeing our Slayer collections.

Yeah, that's right. Half of this a Slayer fan should already have. (I know everyone has said that) Even though Slayer technically doesn't have any "greatest hits" we have half of the reign in blood, south of heaven, seasons in the abyss and divine intervention records. As well as 3 songs from all their other records. That's the first disc and a half. Haha! All these years and we are supposed to have a BOX SET, not a GREATEST HITS. I don't want a bunch of Slayer songs pulled from albums I already have in addition to the stuff that I want (and is supposed to be) in a box set. I'm sure a bunch of fans agree with me. This greatest hits portion only takes up space and aides in jacking up the price. The b-sides found at the end of disc 2 are good though, but are missing quite a few songs. And as for disc 3, the only ones that I really find interesting are Ice Titan, the rehearsals for Antichrist and Fight till death and Jeff Hannemans home recordings (even though there are more of them than what is present here) And the rough mix for Piece by Piece. I'm not sure why No Remorse (I Wanna Die) isn't on the end of disc 2 since it was on the spawn soundtrack. Everything else is just live versions that we all know and love but nothing much here is essential. I don't actually have this thing at all so I can't comment on the DVD. How did I get these songs? I'll explain that at the end. In all honesty, we Slayer fans were promised so much more than this. First it was the packaging to go (a cardboard box?) And then there is the cr@ppy little backstage "replica" and a Slayer poster that isn't that great. There was also supposed to be some songs from reign in blood and so forth that were redone. Where are those? And then there was the supposed a bunch of songs from the undisputed attitude recording sessions. None are to be found. Except the B-side Memories of Tomorrow (its 54 seconds long) that appears on imports.

The 5th disc, a live show in Anaheim presenting the return of Dave Lombardo behind the drums, is pretty good, but it isn't worth an additional [$$], it isn't the complete concert and Tom sounds kind of tired throughout the show. People complain that there are no songs prior to Show no Mercy, that's because those records are on Metal Blade and they can't get the rights for them. (or something, I don't know all the details) So the lack of songs from that era is understandable, but not necessarily excusable.

What else is missing? Well here's a list.

Remember Ice Titan? Well there are also more songs from the same concert (Which by the way, I have the footage from, thanks to the folks at eBay!)

1. Simple Aggression

2. Night Rider (Dave does a 1:02 drums solo, now wouldn't the fans want to hear that?)

3. Assassin

4. Blitzkrieg (The Final Command)

And then there is more. (some is from Metal blade records though)

5. War Ensemble (Hellraiser Remix), 6. Hell Awaits (Demo), 7. Necrophiliac (Demo), 8. Sick Boy (GBH cover from undisputed attitude import), 9. Seasons in the Abyss (Experimental version with the flute), 10. Hand of Doom (From Nativity in Black 2), 11. The original version of Here Comes the Pain (found on a WCW record, contains different effects), 12. Their cover of Born to Be Wild (Which is really good too), 13. A Live version of Angel of Death found on the Ozzfest 96 CD, 14. Crionics (Extended version/Guitar intro),15. Tormentor (Alternative Ending),16. Evil Has no Boundaries (Extended Version with Jeff/Kerry on backup vocals), 17. Cover of the Gumby Theme Song (?), 18. Warlocks Revenge Rehearsal, 19. The High Priestess. 20. The redone version of Chemical Warfare that only appears on some Vinyl copies of Live Undead. There were also supposed to be versions of The Antichrist, Hardening of the Arteries, and Haunting the Chapel (maybe more) re-recorded with Paul Bostoph. This was announced a LONG time ago. Now where are those? 21. Skeletons of Society (Live) and 22. At dawn they Sleep (Live) off the Import of Live: Decade of Aggression. There are also none of their Music Videos on the DVD (I Know this).

It's sad really. Most of what was promised to the fans is completely absent here. There is no need for a Greatest Hits/Best Of from Slayer. I got these off iTunes. There could have been so much more given for so less of a price.