Slayer - Divine Intervention
1994 Def American
by Horatio

Quick Summary:
If you could have seen me and my brother's faces the first time we heard 'Dittohead', you might have thought an atomic bomb had been dropped on the old buggers who lived next door.  In 1994 we were still relatively fledgling thrashers and this was somewhat of an impulse buy.  Eleven years later I still have the original cassette copy of the album and continue to listen to it as if it were released yesterday.  What this means in a nutsack is that 'Divine Intervention' is my preferred Slayer album and indeed the mightiest thrash album I believe to have been recorded.  This album had such an impact that months later when I heard 'Reign In Blood' for the first time it sounded tame by comparison.  This was Slayer's first album in four years and their first with Paul Bostaph who replaced Dave Lombardo...previously thought irreplaceable.  The intervening four years had seen metal's popularity take a dive, but Slayer remained heavyweights, sticking steadfastly to a regime of vicious thrash that made fools of one time allies like Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax.  It seems unfeasible that 'Youthanasia' was released the same year as this.

It is highly doubtful that Slayer have ever been as heavy or ugly as they were on 'Divine Intervention'.  And that's both musically and lyrically.  The music was more twisted than ever and the production is murky and muddy, indicating the direction Slayer would take on their next two albums.  Slabs of ugliness like 'Killing Field', 'Sex, Murder, Art', 'Dittohead', 'Circle Of Belief', 'SS-3' and 'Mind Control' have never been equaled by anyone except Slayer themselves, and the speed and riffing are akin to that of a group of madmen.  Lyrically, the band stuck to the usual themes of serial killing, Christian bashing, Nazi's and political injustice, and flawlessly so.  To this day I've never been battered by an album with every listen like this particular one.  I've surely heard it five thousand times and it never weakens in any regard.  What it propels one to do is strip nude, run into the woods with a shotgun and blow your head off to the strains of 'Mind Control'.  I'm thankful I saw Slayer touring on the back of this in 1995.  They had never been better.  And this album is the icing on the cake.

Website:  www.slayer.net

Song Summaries:

1. Killing Field - I'm so familiar with this album I don't need to listen to it while reviewing it.  Brutal opener that takes time building up, but when it hits speed, is surely the most satisfying feeling in music.  Well, at least equal to bashing Megadeth.  A
2. Sex. Murder. Art - One minute and fifty seconds of thrash mayhem as Tom rapes and pillages an unfortunate young woman in every 'orifice'.  Surely an anthem to inspire thousands of budding young psychopaths.  A
3. Fictional Reality - No thrash, but a heap of riffs which conjure up a sense of dread and scathing, as King belittles the corrupt system.  'Scavengers moving in, covering the truth again', wails Tom in disgust.  B+
4. Dittohead - Perhaps Slayer's fastest track, which is a remarkable accomplishment given all of 'Reign In Blood'.  At this point in my life I had never heard anything so fast.  It took me some time to recover.  Around two minutes anyway, until I could rewind it and listen again.  Automatically dates itself with a reference to 1994, but in 2005 nothing's changed, 'explain the law again to me!'  A+
5. Divine Intervention - An epic at five minutes and paced similarly to 'Seasons In The Abyss' and 'Dead Skin Mask'.  Slower doesn't mean bad here, as the results are still as crazed and sickening, through a compendium of distorted riffing and disturbing imagery.  How Slayer bought into such madness and made it work so well is a remarkable gift.  B+
6. Circle Of Belief - Instant thrash classic, with the band's signature thrash riffing amidst a barrage of lyrics attacking the religious lifestyle that Kerry King is appalled by so much.  Can't say I blame him.  Araya adopts the megaphone style vocal effect which everyone copied in turn.  Thrash at its most precise.  A
7. SS-3 - Nobody goes off the precipice quite like Slayer and when they turn to thrash midway through this track the results are forceful and incomprehensible.  Lyrics about 'hunting, fighting, killing whore' and 'a severed head, a floating mass' accompany the deranged music like a twin brother.  They compliment the two aspects perfectly.  I can never tire of this.  A+
8. Serenity In Murder - I recall an interview with Araya where he told a story about a girl at a fair who was attacked by a madman who slashed her face brutally and left her for dead.  The girl's mother found her dying, only to find her at peace with herself, hence the title.  Starts fast, slows down, but always full frontal in it's assault, with a great drum sound from Bostaph who easily matches Lombardo for drumming skills through the entire album.  B
9. 213 - When my brother and I went to see Slayer in 1995 they played this track, only for some fruit in the crowd to scream 'play something harder!'  I could see his point, it's slow and quite turgid in delivery, as Araya forces his tribute to Jeffery Dahmer upon us, setting the stage for 'Desire' and 'Deviance'.  Not bad musically, but clearly the weak point of the album.  B
10. Mind Control - A three minute thrash blast in vintage Slayer fashion.  The riffs are out of control and that's a brilliant feedback ridden solo from King, I assume.  Realistically it does not get heavier or better in terms of thrash.  Stunning finale to an album which hasn't dated an ounce in over a decade.  I once voted this as one of my twenty best albums ever.  It still is.  How many geeks I annoyed at college by blasting this on my walkman are countless.  This album changed my life.  It led me to see how bad most thrash was by comparison.  Many dismiss it as one of the band's least worthy albums, but I disagree.  Pantera had nothing on this in 1994, and that Slayer went top ten and gold in that year proved many others thought so too.  A+

Average Song Rating:  A-
Overall Album Rating:  A+

Also be sure to read:
Slayer - Christ Illusion by Skin Splitter & Horatio
Slayer - Decade Of Aggression by Horatio
Slayer - Diabolus In Musica by Horatio
Slayer - God Hates Us All by Horatio
Slayer - Reign In Blood by Horatio
Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss by Uncle Meat
Slayer - Show No Mercy by Uncle Meat & Shev
Slayer - Undisputed Attitude by Horatio
Fantômas - Suspended Animation by Lamp
Grip Inc. - The Power of Inner Strength by Horatio
Straight To Hell:  A Tribute To Slayer by Shev

Discography (last updated 8.29.06):
Show No Mercy - 1983
Haunting The Chapel EP - 1984
Live Undead - 1984
Hell Awaits - 1985
Reign In Blood - 1986
South Of Heaven - 1988
Seasons In The Abyss - 1990
Decade Of Aggression - 1991
Divine Intervention - 1994
Live Intrusion EP - 1995
Serenity In Murder EP - 1995
split 7" with T.S.O.L. - 1996
Undisputed Attitude - 1996
Diabolus In Musica - 1998
Ubernoise:  The Interview - 1998
God Hates Us All - 2001
Soundtrack To The Apocalypse box - 2003
Christ Illusion - 2006
Cult 7" single - 2006
Eternal Pyre EP - 2006