Slayer – God Hates us All – 2001
God Hates us All is the ninths Studio album by Slayer. It pointed the band back into direction it once came from. There’s not that experimental feel that Diabolus in Musica contained. Gone are the Nu Metal tendencies and back are the harmonies we all loved from South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss. That doesn’t necessarily mean that we have a bunch of eternal classics residing on the album. I think the God hates us All makes a good effort but that catchyness that were found on the earlier albums are not present.
The music seems to be slightly more Kerry Kings than Jeff Hannemans. There are a couple of collaborations but Kerry King wrote most of the lyrics. It deals with serious themes even though the title of the album itself might bring your thoughts to Satanism and back to the early days of lyrics. I don’t really care for all the foul language though. I think there should be ways to express yourself and writing clever and compelling lyrics with out using the F word all the time. But on the other hand, it is a way to emphasis certain things and it might have it’s place on occasion when it really matters.
As stated, I think this is a step in the right direction from the band even though I don’t feel there are many songs that really stands out. Tom Arays is a little less “shouty”, at least att times since there are certainly songs where he have to find volume from all parts of his body. I would have loved a little more nuances on this album as well.
The original cover art
The original album cover was a bit too controversial so they had to create something else for the large retailers. I personally like the white cover with all the crosses a lot better than what they originally intended. Depicting a bible with pentagrams or branding it with the band name Slayer seems a little to ridiculous for my taste. I think the white version is way more classy and attract the imagination much better.
And, what is to say about Paul Bostaph’s drumming? Not much. He does what he’s supposed to do and I guess it suits the songs but there’s nothing more. There are no really memorable parts or fills. I guess that goes with the album as a whole though. God Hates us all is slightly better thant the previous Diabolus in Musica but I wanted more. I wanted the greatness of the band back!
