Hell Awaits

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Hell Awaits
Hell Awaits cover
Studio album by Slayer
Released August 1985
Recorded 1985
Eldorado Studios,
Hollywood, USA
Genre Thrash metal
Length 37:54
Label Metal Blade Records
Producer(s) Slayer
Brian Slagel
Professional reviews
Slayer chronology
Live Undead
(1984)		 Hell Awaits
(1985)		 Reign in Blood
(1986)


Music sample:

Hell Awaits is the second studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released through Metal Blade Records in 1985. The band's previous release, Show No Mercy, became Metal Blade Records highest selling, which led producer Brian Slagel wish to release another album. Slagel financed a recording budget (Show No Mercy was self-financed by band members) and recruited several experienced producers to help in the studio.

Hell Awaits featured the band's most progressive and diverse work compared to their previous releases, having faster, thrash orientated songs, and is cited as an influence by many extreme metal bands.[1] The album had several re-issues, often including bonus tracks taken from the EP Haunting the Chapel.

Contents

[edit] Recording

Slayer's previous album Show No Mercy became Metal Blade Records highest selling - 40,000 copies sold worldwide. Producer Brian Slagel wanted the band to make another record,[2] hiring producer Ron Fair, who worked for Chrysalis Records, and had seen the band perform live and enjoyed their performance. On seeing Slayer in the studio Fair stated "Wow, these guys are really angry." as he was inexperienced working with heavy metal musicians.[3] Slagel financed the album, where as Show No Mercy was financed by vocalist Tom Araya, using his earnings as a respiratory therapist and money borrowed from guitarist Kerry King's father.[3]

Drummer Dave Lombardo asserts the album was professionally done compared to Show No Mercy: "I didn’t have to overdub the cymbals, and we had a really good engineer."[3] Lombardo's favorite song is "At Dawn They Sleep": "because it was kind of slow and grungy, but then it had that double-bass part the middle."[3] While recording the track, neither guitarists King or Jeff Hanneman who wrote the lyrics were in the studio - only Araya and Slagel. On reading the lyrics there was a word, which was written incorrectly, Araya sang it how it was spelled, although it's not a real word.[3]

Bernie Grundman provided audio mastering, Eddy Schreyer worked on remastering and Bill Metoyer, who worked on the band's previous release, the EP Haunting the Chapel acted as sound engineer.[4] Lyrical themes included darker themes than Show No Mercy such as Hell and Satan,[5] the intro to "Hell Awaits" is a backwards recording of a demonic-sounding voice repeating "Join us," ending with "Welcome back".[6] Araya asserts the album had poor production quality "Nowadays, production-wise, it's so under par. But for what it was at the time, those are amazing records to me. I guess we could go in and redo it. But why ruin it?"[7]

[edit] Touring

Slayer embarked on the Combat Tour with Venom and Exodus. Exodus guitarist Gary Holt asserts "We immediately bonded with the Slayer guys. It was two bands of friends playing with one band of heroes, you know? We were just star-struck."[3] Inside Venom's tour bus (the first time Slayer had been in one) the band members got drunk with Venom, while listening to Hell Awaits.[3]

Araya entered the bus "hammered out of his mind" according to Lombardo, saying "I gotta take a piss! Where’s the bathroom in this thing?"[3] Venom vocalist Conrad "Cronos" Lant said "Right here—right here in my mouth!" Araya took him literally and urinated on his hair. Cronos got up and punched him in the face, the two blamed each other all night and Araya continued the tour with a black eye.[3]

[edit] Reception

Although it did not enter any charts, Hell Awaits was noted for being Slayer's most progressive recording, featuring more darker thrash orientated style, adding unusual arrangements, varying tempos, and dissonant nuances "that paved the way to a wholly distinctive sound all their own" according to All Music Guide reviewer Eduardo Rivadavia.[1] Rivadavia awarded the album four out of five stars, calling it an "irresistible force, but one could still make a confident point that Hell Awaits' uniquely daunting compositions arguably proved just as influential to future extreme metal acts."[1]

E.N.Death of the blackened death metal band The Deviant from Norway says the song "Hell Awaits" and Slayer's music in general has influenced him as a musician, ranking the album in his top five.[8] Lenzig Leal of the doom metal band Cephalic Carnage also ranked the album in his top five.[9] The band Cradle of Filth covered "Hell Awaits" and released it on the Japanese release of their album Dusk and Her Embrace, which featured three bonus covers, "Hell Awaits" being one of them.[10]

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Hell Awaits" (Lyrics: King) (Music: Hanneman/King) – 6:12
  2. "Kill Again" (Lyrics: King) (Music: Hanneman/King) – 4:53
  3. "At Dawn They Sleep" (Lyrics: Araya/Hanneman/King)(Music: Hanneman) – 6:16
  4. "Praise of Death" (Lyrics: Hanneman) (Music: King) – 5:17
  5. "Necrophiliac" (Lyrics: Hanneman/King)(Music: Hanneman) – 3:43
  6. "Crypts of Eternity" (Lyrics: Araya/Hanneman/King)(Music: Hanneman/King) – 6:37
  7. "Hardening of the Arteries" (Lyrics & Music: Hanneman) – 3:57

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Rivadavia, by Eduardo Rivadavia. Hell Awaits. All Music Guide. Retrieved on March 25, 2007.
  2. ^ German, Eric. INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN SLAGEL. Metalupdate.com. Retrieved on December 4, 2006.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i An exclusive oral history of Slayer. Decibel Magazine. Retrieved on December 3, 2006.
  4. ^ Hell Awaits credits. All Muic Guide. Retrieved on April 4, 2007.
  5. ^ Gargano, Paul. Slayer - Tom Araya - January 2007. Maximum Ink Music Magazine. Retrieved on January 24, 2007.
  6. ^ Why They Rule - #6 Slayer. MTV. Retrieved on January 18, 2006.
  7. ^ La Briola, John (2004-07-22). Slay Ride. Westword.com. Retrieved on April 4, 2007.
  8. ^ Ansers (2006-03-08). The Deviant. Nocturnalhorde.com. Retrieved on April 4, 2007.
  9. ^ Mike. Interview with Lenzig of Cephalic Carnage. into-obscurity.com. Retrieved on April 4, 2007.
  10. ^ Torreano, Bradley. Dusk and Her Embrace (Japan Bonus Tracks). All Music Guide. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
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" | "Raining Blood" | "Eyes of the Insane" | "Jihad"
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