South of Heaven - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

South of Heaven is the fourth studio album by American thrash metal band, Slayer. South of Heaven was released on July 5, 1988. The album was released through Def Jam. It is the second collaboration with record producer Rick Rubin.

The album is their second to enter the Billboard 200 and was their last album that was released under Def Jam Recordings. Guitarist Jeff Hanneman has said that the album was the only album that the band members had discussed before writing the music. They knew 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 the band had never done on albums before, or since.^[1]

Guitarist Kerry King mentioned the need to "keep people guessing" as another reason for the musical shift.^[2] According to Slayer's official biography: "In order to contrast the aggressive assault put forth on Reign in Blood, Slayer consciously slowed down the tempo of the album as a whole". "They also added elements like undistorted guitars and toned-down vocal styles not heard on previous albums."^[3]

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