10 Metal Bands That Changed Their Sound

Throughout every single trend that has come and gone in metal history, Slayer has always been as balls to the wall as they could be. Spitting in the face of the commercial metal that was coming out of MTV, this is what metal would have sounded like if it was crossed with hardcore punk, having the darkness of metal with an emphasis on speed and raw aggression to get the job done. When the '90s began to turn a corner though, Kerry King began going down a dark path on Diabolus in Musica.

Being intrigued by the sounds going on in nu metal at the time, the intention behind this album was to capture the same kind of raw aggression that the nu metal scene was trying, which made for everything sounding unbalanced. Since Kerry's solos are one of the band's main calling cards, hearing him intentionally stifle himself on some of these tunes feels like the band are intentionally kneecapping themselves, especially as the grooves go on for way too long and Tom Araya almost sounding bored as he delivers some of these lyrics.

Fans weren't the only ones pissed in retrospect though, as Kerry King fessed up to wanting to cross over to the nu metal frat boy crowd and tried to compromise a little too much during the recording process. Slayer may have a history of doing whatever the hell they want, but trading in your guitar chops for D-tier Static X licks definitely feels like a backwards evolution chart.