3. Seasons In The Abyss
South Of Heaven is a crawling masterpiece of darkness. Reign In Blood is a hate-fuelled thrashing monster. But Seasons In The Abyss is an immaculate fusion of the two sounds, formed of complex soundscapes that show the band's ability to stretch its legs a bit (it's a whole 42 minutes long!). Undoubtedly Slayer's most accessible album (even more so than their recent output), it signalled a moment of relative infamy for the band. Its singles, the could-easily-have-been-on-Reign In Blood thrash of War Ensemble and the could-easily-have-been-on-South Of Heaven sludge of the title track, earned substantial airplay on MTV. Every track is a cracker here. Dead Skin Mask is a personal favourite, with its Ed Gein-inspired lyrics, half-spoken vocal interludes, rolling double-bass drumming and creepy-as-hell multi-layered riff making it one of the band's best live tracks. Expendable Youth is almost groovy, while Skeletons Of Society features some of the weirdest sounds in the band's oeuvre, including truly bizarre guitar solos that seem to be both rapid and meandering at the same time, as well as Araya's heavily-processed spoken word sections. There's a clear move away from the Satanic imagery of their first four albums here towards more politicised lyrics (themes that continue to dominate their work), and the album is rendered even better because of it. The fact that the songs feel like they actually mean something, rather than being mere tirades against religion like on SOH, is a positive. The only reason why this album doesn't finish in the top two is because of the historical significance of those with a higher placement. But make no mistake about it - Seasons In The Abyss is a masterpiece, and compositionally it undoubtedly houses Slayer's most interesting and ageless material.