Much like many Metallica fans think of the band's catalog pre- and post-Black Album, a lot of Slayer fans do the same around Seasons in the Abyss. The 1990 LP was the culmination of an unfuckwithable run of thrash masterpieces in the Eighties, and it set a standard of quality for Slayer (and metal writ large) that the Bay Area crew would forever be held to.
Few Slayer fans would argue that any of the seven albums the group issued going since then are better than Seasons, but many of them are formidable accomplishments in their own right, and the last 30 years of the band is littered with phenomenal songs.
We asked Slayer fans to pick what they consider to be the single best Slayer song post-Seasons. The answers were all over the map, but see the top five vote-getters below.
5. "Jihad"
Christ Illusion is largely viewed as a misstep in Slayer's catalog, one of their only records that lacks the thrash titans' characteristic focus and energy. "Jihad" is the fiery exception, though.
This oddly proggy Slayer joint boasts noodly basslines and a pulverizing, off-kilter beat that sounds like the band tipping their hat to the rhythmic insanity of Meshuggah or System of a Down. It's a ripper.
4. "Piano Wire"
This was a special pick. "Piano Wire" is a deep cut from Slayer's final album, 2015's Repentless, that marks the final composition guitarist-songwriter Jeff Hanneman submitted to Slayer before his death.
Even though Kerry King handles all the fretboard-bending guitar work, the riff hits with Hanneman's singular power, and the mid-tempo chug exhibits Slayer's classic groove. No wonder the die-hards love it.
3. "World Painted Blood"
Slayer's 2009 opus was their last with Hanneman and Lombardo in the lineup, and while an uneven album overall, its title track rivals almost any song in their whole career.
Parts of it are blisteringly fast, and the way vocalist-bassist Tom Araya screams the titular phrase is immediately infectious. But the piece de resistance — the part that landed the song so high up in this poll — is the brutal breakdown during its second half. It's so heavy and chuggy that you could hardcore-dance to it.
2. "213"
Slayer's 1994 album, Divine Intervention was their first with Dave Lombardo's drum successor, Paul Bostaph, and it's always been underrated. "Killing Fields," "Dittohead," the title track and this song, "213," are all home-run Slayer songs.
The nearly five-minute jaunt boasts some hardass riffage, a flesh-peeling solo and some of Araya's most sinister lyricism, as he personifies the twisted desires of a serial necrophiliac, inspired largely by the notorious Jeffrey Dahmer — whose apartment number was 213.
1. "Disciple"
This was the resounding No. 1 — and for good reason. Famously released on 9/11, God Hate Us All was a monstrous return to form for Slayer after the nu-metal dalliances of Diabolus in Musica, and "Disciple" is its best track.
It thrashes hard during the verses, grooves menacingly during the chorus, and its chant-inducing refrain of the album's blasphemous title hits all of Slayer's most adrenalized sweet spots. It's just a badass fucking song.
