Slayer Soundtrack To The Apocalypse CD

For this five-disc box set, which contains four CDs and one DVD, veteran thrash outfit Slayer dipped into their back catalog, overseas bonus tracks, old demos, and live archives to assemble both a "greatest hits" style package for casual followers and a rarities collection for serious aficionados. Their first two albums, not available through American, are represented with live cuts. There's plenty of dark, sinister metal to chew on, from the infamous musical and lyrical onslaught of the Holocaust-inspired "Angel of Death" through the existential "Seasons of the Abyss" to the amusingly abbreviated interpretation of Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida." The live cuts span basement jams from 1983 right up through the band's classic line-up reunion tour of 2002. There is also a disc featuring bootleg concert footage from throughout the years.

Really hardcore fans will probably have collected this material through soundtracks, live releases, and bootlegs over the years, but for the majority of fans this will fill the gaps between Slayer's official studio albums. The box set also includes a nicely designed, thorough booklet featuring a full track listing, vintage photos and extensive liner notes by Mark Paschke and Eric Braverman.Q (2/04, p.118) - 3 stars out of 5 - "There are still some moments to savour. The fabled 'South Of Heaven' and 'Angel Of Death' have definite nostalgic appeal."
Mojo (Publisher) (2/04, p.114) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Morally smudged and sonically astounding, Slayer are the band who exist to be the heaviest, to be the fastest, to stand at the farthest remove from decency and normality."