In previous writings I have shared my opinion on cover versions or tribute albums quite strongly. I wrote that a note for note cover was next to pointless. This approach combined with the artist being covered and the choice of material have spewed forth some musical travesties. I won't dredge up any examples here, you know who they are.
To my ears the correct approach is to deconstruct the song and rebuild it in a different form while maintaining some of its character.With a left field choice of material (paranoid, stairway, freebird etc are a major NO NO) and this rebuilding it can lead to musically interesting results. Case in point is the debut by a side project put together by members of Monolord, Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Lowrider, Kylesa and Year of the Cobra. The focus of their project is a tribute to Slayer.... but played much, much slower. Hence the name SLOWER...the pun aside I was already intrigued.
Where did such a great concept come from? Bob Balch (Fu Manchu) states he was teaching a guitar student to play south of heaven and had to slow the pace so his student could get used to the riff...this necessity planted the idea in Balch's mind. The project gestated for a few years then reaching out to Esben Willems (Monolord) it took shape as the other musicians came on board.
The choice of material here is very well thought out, with a mix of biggies from the Slayer catalogue with a couple of deep cuts. Starting with "War Ensemble" the riffs move at a snail's pace and stretches the song to 10.38 length. The female vocals give the melody a vastly different flavour to Tom Araya's primal scream. It's a fantastic exploration into psychedelic and doom territory while maintaining Slayer's pig sacrifice guitar solo techniques. The "Antichrist" is transformed into classic metal, a far cry from thrash metal. The solo sounding more like the scorpions or UFO."Blood Red" is a dirge in the best possible way with the double tracked vocals and soaring chorus give it an almost ethereal feel.
"Dead Skin Mask" one of slayers most recognizable songs isn't here.The riff takes on an added menace crawling rather than galloping. The chorus is almost spoken word and is to my ears not a hundred miles from the off-kilter approach of Type-O-Negative at their darkest. This song for me is the triumph of the album. It is totally removed from the original and reborn as an evil sounding descent into hell. Marvelous stuff!
Finishing off with the track that kickstarted the project "South of Heaven" is another excellent reconstruction. The vocals again add something otherworldly to the vibe. The melody is so recognizable that to twist it into new form shows real skill.
If I had one critique of this album it's that there isn't enough of it. However, considering the shortest track is 6.09 space constraints had to be considered. It retains the heaviness of Slayer but reflects it through a doom prism. It does exactly what I want from covers, it reconstructs them into something new. The love of the individual musicians for Slayer shows in the care and detail they have poured into the five tracks. Unlike other tribute albums that end up keeping dust off the rest of your record collection, this stands alone as its own entity.
I would go so far as to suggest non=slayer fans (besides needing a strong talking to) will really enjoy the album. It is an absolute joy, the louder it's played the heavier it sounds.It's a prime example of job done properly.
Please sir can I have some more?
-Bobo Coen
