Slayer Album: “Haunting the Chapel [EP]”

While Slayer's 1983 debut "Show No Mercy" wasn't a bad debut by a longshot, at the time it had a "been there, done that" feel to it. Slayer followed up with this EP that would become an instant classic to Slayer fans mostly because of the great fan favorite "Chemical Warfare". "Captor of Sin" is a hard hitting track while the title track would begin Slayer's trademark of fantastic title tracks on their following albums. An early version of "Aggressive Perfector" is included here as a bonus track and is pretty solid (a faster version would be included on the remastered re-release of Slayer's 1986 classic "Reign in Blood"). The only problem with this EP is the shoddy production values, but that is a staple on any of Slayer's Metal Blade re-releases. All in all, this is an essential addition to any Slayer fan's music library.

This is classic slayer, sounds like a mix of show no mercy and hell awaits. There is only 4 songs but all 4 are brutal and very catchy thrash speed metal. The title song is one of slayers most underated tracks ever. i wish they would play this song live once in a while. the riff is classic and lyrics are vintage slayer. The song starts with tom screaming "the holy cross, symbol of lies, intimidate the lives of christian born" gotta love that. Chemical warfare is the one of my favorite speed metal songs of all time and captor of sin is crazy too. The bonus track aggressive perfector is also found on some copies of show no mercy lp and really gives you an idea of how they sounded when they first came out. Get this ep to complete your slayer collection. its only weakness is its short length but its still classic music for the best speed metal band of all time.

The production on this album is quite shoddy, so it is hard to pick out much at times, but when you are able to, you hear a band moving out of the somewhat done before sound on "Show No Mercy" to a new form of thrash, Slayerized thrash! Slayer begin to develop their own thing on this EP, and by the time Hell Awaits rolls around, they're an entirely different band. "Chemical Warfare" is a killer thrash cut and sounds even better live, while "Captor of Sin" moves at a gallop and features some wacked out guitar solos. The title track is pretty heavy in it's own right, and the addition of Aggressive Perfector helps show you where Slayer came from. Excellent work!

Slayer was probably THE heaviest rock band of the 1980s, and this EP was recorded in the days when the group were just starting to develop their brutal and uncomprimising signature sound. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because the sound quality is not the best and they could have tacked on another song or two. Other than this, the CD is a Grade A slice of vintage American speed metal. The title track is perhaps the best of the three songs on the CD and it clearly foreshadows the band's "Hell Awaits" period (Hell Awaits is the groups best album by far). If you're tired of 90s wimp rock (Korn, Pearl Jam, Creed, etc...is there really a difference?) then this is one of the CDs you should purchase post haste. The bonus track that appears on some issues of this recording (Agressive Perfector) is a real gem, so try to find one of these pressings.

In my personal opinion, Slayer's 1984 release "Haunting the Chapel" is the best thing that came out of metal, or thrash/death metal at least. The production is slightly more muddy than that of "Show No Mercy", but the aggression has been turned up several notches, all while retaining the melody that Slayer had perfected so well on the previous record. Tom Araya skreiks his way through all of the songs, including Chemical Warfare, which is arguably the best song Slayer had ever written.

The guitar work here is precise and difficult, but it grounded by fairly simple, albeit quick, drums and bass. That being said, Slayer's music as a whole is largly guitar based. So what makes this particular EP so much better than anything else? It's hard to say...but there are definitely moments that would appeal to any metalhead.

All of Chemical Warfare is stellar, especially the long ending, emitting a sort of chaos across the musical landscape, introduced by Araya's grisely voice. Captor of Sin is completely relentless, pounding through the listeners head with a beginning solo, before morphing into one of Slayer's most solid songs. The same goes for Haunting the Chapel, which bests the other tracks in guitar work, forming a basis for bands like Cannibal Corpse, the influence of this song can be seen in the title track of "The Bleeding". Aggressive Perfector sounds a LOT like Metallica's "Kill 'Em All", as it shares an intro with Hit the Lights. This track brings the band back home, and prepares the listened for the impending doom, manifested on their next record, "Hell Awaits".