Seasons in the Abyss

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Seasons in the Abyss
Studio album by Slayer
Released	October 9, 1990
Recorded	1989 – 1990 Hit City West Hollywood Sound Record Plant Los Angeles, California, USA
Genre	Thrash metal
Length	42:32
Label	Def American Records
Producer(s)	Rick Rubin Andy Wallace Slayer
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Slayer chronology
South of Heaven (1988)	Seasons in the Abyss (1990)	Decade of Aggression (1991)
Back cover

Seasons in the Abyss is an album by thrash metal band Slayer. It was recorded in 1989 and released in 1990 (see 1990 in music) through Def American Records (later renamed to American Recordings).

Although "War Ensemble" starts the album off at high speed, harking back to Reign in Blood, the album mostly continues the melodic growth seen on South of Heaven. Track two, the anti-Communist Blood Red, is somewhat reminiscent of Iron Maiden (one of the band's formative influences) and there is a strong Black Sabbath influence throughout the record. "Seasons in the Abyss" ends the album in a similar fashion to "Spill The Blood" from South of Heaven, with a clean guitar intro.

Contents 1 Track listing 2 Credits 3 Miscellanea 4 References 5 Chart positions 5.1 Album

[edit] Track listing

1. "War Ensemble" (Araya/Hanneman) – 4:52
2. "Blood Red" (Araya/Hanneman) – 2:50
3. "Spirit in Black" (Hanneman/King) – 4:07
4. "Expendable Youth" (Araya/King) – 4:10
5. "Dead Skin Mask" (Araya/Hanneman) – 5:17
6. "Hallowed Point" (Araya/Hanneman/King) – 3:24
7. "Skeletons of Society" (King) – 4:41
8. "Temptation" (King) – 3:26
9. "Born of Fire" (Hanneman/King) – 3:08
10. "Seasons in the Abyss" (Araya/Hanneman) – 6:32

[edit] Credits

• Tom Araya – Bass, Vocals
• Jeff Hanneman – Lead Guitars
• Kerry King – Lead Guitars
• Dave Lombardo – Drums

• Recorded at Hit City West, Hollywood Sound, and Record Plant, Los Angeles, California, USA
• Produced by Rick Rubin
• Co-produced by Andy Wallace and Slayer
• Engineered and mixed by Andy Wallace
• Assistant engineered by Chris Rich, David Tobocman, and Allen Abrahamson
• Mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk, New York City, USA
• Illustration by Larry Carroll

[edit] Miscellanea

• This was the last Slayer album to feature Dave Lombardo on drums, until Christ Illusion, which was released on August 8, 2006.

• The track Blood Red is believed to be based on the brutal regime of panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. Other sources say that the song is an allusion, or at least has its inspiration, in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

• The song Dead Skin Mask was inspired on the murders and habits of serial killer Ed Gein.

• Born of Fire was for a long time just an instrumental leftover song from South of Heaven with a working title Stress due to the fact that Kerry King could not write any good lyrics for it during the South Of Heaven sessions. Eventually it was the last song completed for Seasons in the Abyss.

• The somewhat strange vocal arrangement on the track Temptation was unintentionally done that way. If you listen to the track, you actually hear Tom Araya singing the song twice: once the way he thought it fit and for the second time on the insistence of Kerry King the way he thought it should be sung. The haunting end result came to be because the first vocal track was not erased between the takes. When the producer played the track and heard both vocal renditions simultaneously on the instrumental background, he liked it so much that both vocals were used on the album. Nobody is sure anymore which vocals are the original ones. ^[1]

• The title of the album might be derived from Rimbaud's A Season in Hell. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

1. ^ 1990 issue of Metal Maniacs featuring Slayer and Megadeth talking about their then new LPs ('Seasons in The Abyss' and 'Rust In Peace')

[edit] Chart positions

[edit] Album

Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1990	The Billboard 200	40

Slayer
Tom Araya | Jeff Hanneman | Kerry King | Dave Lombardo Tony Scaglione | Paul Bostaph | Jon Dette
Discography
Albums and extended plays: Show No Mercy | Haunting the Chapel | Hell Awaits | Reign in Blood | South of Heaven | Seasons in the Abyss | Divine Intervention | Undisputed Attitude | Diabolus in Musica | God Hates Us All | Eternal Pyre | Christ Illusion
Live albums: Live Undead | Decade of Aggression
Compilations: Soundtrack to the Apocalypse
Videos and DVDs
Live Intrusion | War at the Warfield | Still Reigning
Songs
Angel of Death | Jesus Saves | Raining Blood | Behind the Crooked Cross | Blood Red | Dead Skin Mask | Seasons in the Abyss | Eyes of the Insane | Jihad