Slayer Album: “Diabolus in Musica”

I wanted to love this CD. Just look at the artwork in the booklet and behind the CD! A man shot in the head, his blood all over the wall behind him, a whole line of needles sticking in the underside of someone's arm, and a pair of lips sewn shut! Rock on!

But sadly the music just doesn't live up the imagery. Standout tracks are only "Bitter Peace" and "Point" which are the two more aggressive songs on the CD.

This was Slayer's most experimental album, an attempt to incorporate elements of the popular (and very awful) nu-metal genre which had appeared around this time. It's somewhat interesting to listen to, but the songwriting just feels weak and lacking compared to earlier works. Something just doesn't quite work in most of the songs but I can't figure out definitively what.

You'll have to really be into Slayer to jump for this one.

Enamored by bands like Machine Head and Pantera, whose sound, ironically, owes much to Slayer's classic 80s albums, Slayer decided to unleash Diabolous in Music upon the world in 1998. Talk about poor career moves. Downtuned guitar riffs that could be played by a 5 year old, poor songwriting, and Tom Araya struggling to sing like he used to... this is all anybody should expect from Diabolous.

After a killer opening track (Bitter Peace), DiM quickly heads downhill into monotonous borefest after monotonous borefest (STAIN OF MIND?). Towards the end, things pick up a bit (In the Name of God is a good song, as is Screaming from the Sky), but a few redeeming moments do not save this pile of dumpster fodder from mediocrity.

The question is: WHAT HAPPENED? How could Slayer fall so far? Who knows exactly what they were thinking when they recorded Diabolous... and maybe it's better we don't.

I dont think I've ever heard a Slayer album that made me think "Wow, that f ucking sucked". That being said, this album is not one of their bests, but I still enjoyed it. You havent seen anything though until you get to see these guys live...they put on one hell of a show. Check out "Still Reigning" on DVD if you want to get a taste

I know Slayer probably won't release another album as good as Reign In Blood or South of Heaven, and I know they're beyond the 80s reverberated sound of Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits. But do I think they could release an album on the same level as Seasons In the Abyss? Yes I do, and unfortunately, they haven't done it on this record. The album isn't soft by any means - the music is still very intense and angry, but many of the songs, even the good ones, sound second-rate and not all the way there, if not worse. The production is decent, but the guitars have somewhat of a muddy sound, probably due to the lower tunings that were used this time around. There are some tiny bass fills here and there on the album, which I liked - I think Tom Araya has always been overlooked as a bass player. Sure, he's not up there with Cliff Burton or Steve Harris, but the guy can certainly play fast and keep up with the band. The drums are decent, but again, nothing truly impressive other than a few double-bass rolls scattered throughout. Overall, a mediocre record for Slayer, at best. I don't recommend this to any new or potential Slayer fans, because it isn't a good representation of the band's talent and ability. But like I said, there are a few good songs here - "Bitter Peace", "Death's Head", and "Stain of Mind". Pick it up if you're a hardcore Slayer fan.

Ok, we all know that this isn't Slayer's greatest CD. But it still has some kick@$$ songs. As another review said the song bitter peace is like a roller coaster. That is a perfect description of the song. Slayer made the song about The India-Pakistan conflicts and about how you can't stop the fighting. Yes the first 5 songs are great, and after that it seems like a slow decline. I would say that songs like Love to Hate and In the Name of God are very good too. But it's very difficult to listen to the album the whole way through without wanting something new. Especially with songs like Screaming from the Sky. That song seems to annoy me during the chorus. Now people say that this album is too "nu metal". I disagree. The influence of nu-metal is something like 2-5 percent. I only consider it nu-metal if there is rap (clearly not) and if there are no solos (obviously not, this is Slayer). The sounds of the guitars are the only thing that seems to crawl up peoples butts. It doesn't bug me at all and if you listen to a variety of heavy music it shouldn't bother you either. The 2 B-sides that are available on Imports are also very good. Wicked is a slow 6 minute song where as Unguarded Instinct is very fast and should have been on the album. Hope this helped.