A Review of the 1990 album "Seasons in the Abyss" by American Thrash Metal Band Slayer

1. War Ensemble
2. Blood Red
3. Spirit in Black
4. Expendable Youth
5. Dead Skin Mask
6. Hallowed Point
7. Skeletons of Society
8. Temptation
9. Born of Fire
10. Seasons in the Abyss

Slayer, one of the most well-known thrash metal bands ever finished the decade of the 1980’s in fine fashion. They returned to the studio in 1990 and the result is the album Seasons in the Abyss. One of the common lyrical themes in the album is the horrors of war and the effect that this can have on soldiers who serve in these wars. Blood Red continues in the tradition of Slayer songs that talk about war as the blood of innocent people is shed. It is said that in war there are no winners. A solid song in the album is the one called Spirit in Black. It does have some good melody being a Slayer song. I say this because Slayer focuses exclusively on speed instead of melody that bands such as Kreator concentrate on. Slayer switches to a mid-tempo song that is quite catchy and it is the one called Expendable Youth. Looking at Seasons in the Abyss, even though Slayer did not completely change their approach compared to the 1980s, the album is not as fast as Reign in Blood was. The riffs in several songs are catchy for sure and at least Tom Araya does not excessively scream which is good obviously because he saves his vocal chords. Seasons in the Abyss has more of a mid-tempo riffing approach that actually works out pretty well.

Looking back at this 1990 studio album by Slayer it may actually be a better one than previously thought. This is due to the riffs in songs such as Expendable Youth and Dead Skin Mask. For once, this band does something different while still sticking to their thrash metal origins.

"Skeletons of Society" is one of the favorite songs of this writer due to the catchy nature of it. It seems that the end of the world is near as there is no future or past. The song is about someone who thinks that the world is slowly decaying and falling apart as he is witness to the destruction that he sees in front of him.

• This album reached #40 on the Billboard 200 Music Charts
• Seasons in the Abyss was released on the same day as Souls of Black by Testament.
• This would be the last album to have Dave Lombardo playing the drums until Christ Illusion in 2006.

Overall, this writer gives Seasons in the Abyss an 85 out of 100 points. The song “Temptation” has an interesting mid-tempo riff that kinds of speeds along which is a catchy part of the song. "Seasons in the Abyss" which is the title track builds up slowly into what becomes one of the early classics of thrash metal in the early 1990s. Seasons in the Abyss is a good transition kind of album for Slayer as they use more mid-tempo riffs and add a touch of softer parts in their songs while still retaining their speed that they have been known for. Songs that may have a memorable main riff that may be stuck in your subconscious memory include Expendable Youth and Skeletons of Society.