Classic Album Review : Slayer - Divine Intervention (1994)

Aug 26

Aug 26 Classic Album Review : Slayer - Divine Intervention (1994)

Thirty years after its release, the only reason why Slayer's Divine Intervention is ever brought it is that it sounds like shit. No one ever talks about how impossible to make this record was: it was following an era-defining masterpiece, their legendary drummer had walked away from the band two years prior and I'm not even factoring the grunge craze that everyone up to freakin’ Metallica to turn on everything they ever stood for. Slayer worked themselves out of a cultural corner by being more Slayer than ever.

I'm here to tell you that not only Divine Intervention is good, but it's low key one of Slayer's best ever records.

The best thing about reviewing old records is that it renders them free from the comparisons and become enjoyable for what they are. No way Killing Fields could've lived up to War Ensemble (one of Slayer's best ever songs) as an opener. It's not even the best song on Divine Intervention, but it's solid. It opens with a good ninety seconds of Jeff Hanneman's relentless riffing and the overblown, disjointed production and lack of distinctive hooks cast a creepy-ass aura. This is the Slayer your parents were worried about.

Sex. Murder. Art. is a more conventional, hardcore punk influenced Slayer song. It is carried by a spirited vocal performance by Tom Araya who's embodying the rage-driven maniacs he's singing about on Divine Intervention. The wonky production helps you appreciate all the fire in that man's voice. Fictional Reality is one of my favorite songs on the record. The guitars are so versatile and atypical, it’s like they're telling their own story while Tom Araya hurls venom about television-fueled paranoia.

It's one of these songs you'd picture a serial killer listening to.

Speaking of hardcore punk influences, Dittohead is basically an old school DC hardcore song with (kind of unnecessary) solos. It's pure, unrelenting breakneck rage. Slayer's doubling down on that Jeff Hanneman-Kerry King creative relationship is an interesting choices that takes center stage on Dittohead, as it compensates for the loss of Dave Lombardo's commanding drumming. Paul Bostaph is not a bad drummer at all, but he's always had different duties. He's more of a pace setter in that lineup.

The title song is another immortal banger. Mid-tempo Slayer are so fucking good when they’re dialed in creatively. The guitar riffs are fucking ghoulish and unique. In hindsight, it's hard not to trace a lineage with Mayhem’s My Death, which came out a decade later. Tom Araya is absolutely out of his fucking mind with anger, pain and heartbreak. Once again without even listening to the lyrics, it's hard not to relate to the pure fucking fury pouring out of him like smoke. I have no idea why this song isn't more loved.

Circle of Beliefs is an odd one. There's zero buildup or atmosphere to it. The songs cuts through any artifice and delivers straight, muscular thrash metal. There are interesting moments, most precisely a bridge about two minutes in where Tom Araya leans a little more into his gloomy delivery, but it lacks the grimness of Divine Intervention's best cuts. The following song SS-3 is another atypical gem with an infectious chorus delivered by a possessed Araya. It carries the haunted vibe that makes this album so unique.

The other single from Divine Intervention was Serenity in Murder, a minor classic in their catalogue. Even if they're known as one of the most important thrash metal band of all-time, it's a great example of how they were never afraid to slow it down ant incorporate atmospheric element to make their music more unique and memorable than any other band sharing the same genre label. My only criticism is that it didn't require speeding up and solos at the end, it doesn't really fit the song or the mood it goes for.

213 is another infamous song that doesn't get the love it deserves. I mean, it's not even one of the three best songs on Divine Intervention, but man is it ever fucking creepy. A love song written from Jeffrey Dahmer's point of view? Only the fucking masters could pull it off. By the way, Dahmer was still alive when it came out, there's a chance he listened to it. Not much to say about the closer Mind Control . It’s energetic and grim and it has perhaps the best solo on the record, but it's somewhat Slayer-by-numbers.

Slayer answered making their best, most complete and intoxicating record by making a darker, murkier and definitely more haunted one. Divine Intervention feels noxious and embattled as if you locked up four demented killers in a room and demanded that they created music to express their inner feelings. It's not the catchiest or even the hardest Slayer record, but it’s by faaaarrrr the darkest and most demented. Extreme music should feel dangerous an unhinged and Divine Intervention fucking does.