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Slayer

It all started with metal. Some of my high school"chums" were into metal and it wasn't long before I jumped on the bandwagon and made (much to my parents dismay) my very first music purchase: Iron Maiden's Somewhere In Time. I listened to it alone on a shitty 80s tape recorder or my sister's pink and white walkman with the busted buttons. It played on a loop, but I never really felt anything from this music. I was forcing myself to like it, but I just didn't... Never did... Never will! But I didn't give up on metal. Metallica soon followed, the video for One off of ...And Justice For All was in heavy rotation on MusiquePlus here in Quebec (and actually beat out reigning champions Def Leppards with their video for Pour Some Sugar On Me on the Combat Des Clips, a weekly special where you could ring in and vote for your favorite video). That video was amazing and the tune was catchy and quite heavy and it felt like something I could associate with. So I bought that album on tape along with a few others and indeed, I enjoyed their music quite a bit. It was perfect for a healthy rebellious adolescent but somehow, the wide success of the band made them a bit more accessible and they somewhat failed to piss my parents off... and this is where Slayer comes in.

Like those obscure video nasties which you weren't sure you could get away with watching in case you got caught, Slayer were the vilest, most extreme band of the time, just looking at the cover art of one of their albums was enough to guarantee you a place in hell for all of eternity; so imagine actually popping one of those tapes into your stereo and listening to the music... Oh man were you ever asking for it! The worst part is, the music lived up to the group's reputation. The dark lyrics, filled with visions of perversion, death and disease; the music, incredibly violent when they were going ballistic on their instruments, but even when the pace slowed down, there was something sick about their music. Even the arwork was something to ponder about (to thisday, their ambiguous use of nazi imagery is quite disconforting). Slayer made you feel uncomfortable, but just like it's impossible to look away from a gruesome train wreck, bodies mangled and spread like butter across the pavement, it's was impossible not to listen to Slayer once you've had your first taste. Not only that, but it felt like I had to hide the fact that I was listening to them, as if I could get in trouble would my family had known I enjoyed this kind of stuff.

Years later though, and looking back, Slayer have this cartoonish feel to them and their violent imagery and sound has been diluted by the many more extreme bands that followed in their footsteps. Nonetheless, Slayer remain the godfathers of extreme metal and to add to their credit, their music sounds as fresh today as it did when their albums were first released. And unlike other bands... uh-hem *cough-mumble*Metallica*wheeze* who felt it was necessary to make their sound more commercial, Slayer still sound exactly the same as they did fifteen years ago. I lost touch with their releases throughout the years as I matured and moved on to different genres, but I still look back at Slayer with a respectful, nostalgic eye. These three albums that I own, are the only three I ever plan on getting as they are the ones I grew with and which I consider to be their best and most representative works. I don't believe anyone would need anything else but these, but any fan of metal shouldn't be without them.

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