Slayer – Divine Intervention

This was released during the dark ages of thrash metal. Metallica was just getting over 24 hours of air time on MTV from the release of the Black Album. Every band was chasing Metallica's success with more mainstream, simpler song structures. And this was also the rise of Death Metal. Slayer not only didn't try to sound more radio friendly they attempted to rival Death Metal with more violent lyrics and it was a great record at a time when most were starting to sound lame and boring. Now this record is not perfect, there are a few songs that are weaker than others but over all I give this record 5 stars for not bending to the pressure of the times. Killing Fields, Sex Murder Art, Serenity in Murder, 213 and Mind Control are all classic Slayer songs that could make it on any of their previous releases. Paul Bostaph is a great drummer and gives it his all on this release. He does however give the band a different feel compared to Dave Lombardo but not in a bad way, just different.

Over the years, I've tried to figure out why "Divine Intervention" always irritates me when I listen to it. On the surface, it strikes me as an attempt to take the sound and creativity of "South Of Heaven" and marry it to the tight thrash that made "Reign In Blood" so amazing. I've come to the conclusion that there are three areas that mar this effort.

First, it's really soulless. While technically impressive, it sacrifices the creation of a foreboding mood to keeping the songs slim. That was a mistake because the ability to create an atmosphere of dread has always been what set them apart from so many others. Second, they try to get political. Slayer can sing about generalities of social behavior, but when they get overtly political, it just sounds idiotic. In one song they talk about rape and violation on a disturbingly personal level, then decry our national lack of comion in the next. Third, it's hard to justify the misogyny of this work. Call me thin-skinned, but two of the 10 tracks involve extreme violence toward women, and another casts an evil force as female. I love women; I can do without that shit.

In the end, "Divine Intervention" does very little new - lyrically or sonically - and makes the twin mistakes of clumsy political commentary and personalizing the violence Slayer loves to comment on. On these counts, it transcends nothing of their previous catalog.