Eminem kicked off his breakthrough single My Name Is with a simple question. "Hi kids, do you like violence?", he asks. You know who likes violence? Slayer. They don't like it, they love it. From their debut album, this platinum-selling superstar band focused heavily on satanic references for their music. That was their angle, and they rode it hard. Like a demonic one-trick pony, the sound could change (thrash metal, groove metal, sometimes slow and doom-ish, sometimes fast and technical) but the vibe was constant. Evil schlock-metal. God Hates Us All was a noticeable departure. Yes, with a title like that you know it's not going to be gospel music, but this time around the core of the album wasn't the band's penchant for cheesy satanism, but all out aggression. It's so frighteningly relentless, it's almost funny. No band should be allowed to be this enraged, it can't be good for the heart. As we're in reaching the end of our list, let's take a moment to appreciate some of the lyrical gems on display here: "You self-righteous f*ck, give me a reason not to rip your f*cking face off, Why don't you take a good look in these eyes, cause I'm the one that's gonna tear your f*cking heart out." - Exile "I hate everyone equally, you can't tear that out of me. No segregation - separation, just me in my world of enemies. I reject this f*ckin' race. I despise this f*ckin' place." - Disciple "I'm going to tear your f*cking eyes out, rip your f*cking flesh off, beat you till you're just a f*cking lifeless carcass, F*ck you and your progress, Watch me f*cking regress, You were made to take the fall - now you're nothing... payback's a bitch motherf*cker" - Payback ...and it goes on and on like that for, oh, about forty minutes. And not for a moment does Slayer tone things down, get all introspective or musically progressive. It's an endless torrent of hatred. When we talk about fight music, this is it. The 11 September 2001 release date was almost too perfect for this abhorrently brilliant album.
Game-obsessed since the moment I could twiddle both thumbs independently. Equally enthralled by all the genres of music that your parents warned you about.
