South of Heaven

South of Heaven is the fourth studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer. It was released in July 1988 on Rick Rubin's label Def Jam Recordings. The album was their band's second album produced by Rubin, following Reign in Blood (1986). Given the innovative speed metal pace of Reign in Blood, Slayer deliberately slowed the tempo on South of Heaven and used undistorted guitars and toned-down vocals. South of Heaven reached number 57 on the Billboard 200. While some critics praised the change in the band's sound, those preferring the style of their earlier recordings were disappointed. The songs "Mandatory Suicide" and the title track have become permanent features of Slayer's live setlist. In 1992, South of Heaven was certified gold by the RIAA. The album was the band's last for Def Jam. Background The album was recorded in Los Angeles with Reign in Blood producer Rick Rubin. According to PopMatters reviewer Adrien Begrand, "Rubin's production emphasizes Lombardo's drums and places them high on the mix". Guitarist Jeff Hanneman has said that South of Heaven was the only album the band members discussed before writing the music. Aware that they "couldn't top Reign in Blood", and that whatever they recorded would be "compared to that album", he believed they "had to slow down", something they had never done on previous albums. Guitarist Kerry King cited the need to "keep people guessing" as another reason for the musical shift. The band wanted to contrast the aggressiveness of Reign in Blood by slowing the tempo of the songs and adding undistorted guitars and toned-down vocals. King has been critical of his performance, describing it as "lackluster". King attributes this to the fact he had recently married and relocated from New York to Phoenix, Arizona. Describing himself as "probably the odd man out at that point", he said he "didn't participate as much because of that". According to Hanneman: "We go through dry spells sometimes, but the good thing about having two guitar players that can write music is that you are never gonna go without. I guess at that time, Kerry was hitting a dry spell." King has also been critical of the album in general, describing it as one of his least favorite Slayer albums. He felt vocalist Tom Araya moved too far away from his regular vocal style, and "added too much singing".