It was 1994 and Slayer were set to release a new album into an uncertain climate. The label was concerned about explicit themes, the band were writing songs more based in the darkness of reality than ever before, and their legendary drummer had quit the group a few years before.

Slayer – Divine Intervention

Released September 27, 1994 via American Records

My Favorite Tracks – Divine Intervention, 213, Killing Fields

Slayer had previously navigated a line-up change at the drum position, but back in 1987 they were able to convince Dave Lombardo to come back. In 1992, Lombardo was gone for real and for a decade, so Slayer would have to replace someone for a recording for the first time in their history. With Lombardo being considered Slayer’s strongest asset, it would be all eyes and ears on the replacement.

That role would go to Paul Bostaph, who had been the drummer for thrash act Forbidden. Bostaph delivered far more convincing performances than others who auditioned and also took the time to practice up the back catalog in the style of Lombardo to ensure fans would get the experience they wanted. He joined Slayer’s usual suspects – bassist and vocalist Tom Araya and guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman.

Slayer had gathered up a new round of songs to follow up their 1990 album Seasons In The Abyss, which was a critical and fan hit. King and Hanneman composed the music while Araya handled a fair share of the lyrics along with King and a few contributions from Hanneman. This time around the themes would be mostly based in the grim facets of reality rather than exploring the supernatural or demonic.

The focus on murder would be an issue as the album was deemed very explicit. It was banned for a time in Germany, who have very stringent laws around that sort of thing. The album’s imagery would fall in line with the brutal themes. While the cover is a well-done piece by noted metal cover artist Wes Benscotter, the CD’s inside tray and CD itself featured the image of someone who had carved Slayer into their arm with a scalpel.

This album is 10 songs that finish in 36:33, a pretty lean effort but fairly typical of Slayer.

Killing Fields

The first thing this song does is allow Paul Bostaph an extended intro to let the world know who he is. It then jumps into a mid-tempo yet very loud affair about killing, which is a theme for the record. This song has a bit more of the subtle dynamics of Slayer than a lot of others here and comes out toward the top of the heap. Good way to open things.

Sex. Murder. Art.

This one is not even two minutes long and sounds like Slayer going back to their speedy past. This is another one about brutality, as a sadist takes pleasure in consuming his victim. This one feels like a blip on the radar with how other songs get a bit more space and tempo to breathe on here but it shouldn’t be overlooked for its throwback to Slayer of yore.

Fictional Reality

It’s a shift now to political and social issues, though of course through the filter of Slayer these are looked at from a grim perspective. This one is simply about how everything is messed up and is going down the tubes, it’s not so much a message as it is an observation. The song works really well as a 90’s era Slayer track, this one fits right in.

Dittohead

The band slams through this one, also a political sort of song. The title is taken from the name given to fans of now deceased conservative media figurehead Rush Limbaugh. The song’s message of how criminals walk free in society isn’t really a diss of Limbaugh and probably more something he’d agree with.

Divine Intervention

The title track cools things off for a bit and gets into a creepy, atmospheric vibe for a bit. It’s a fitting approach as the song is one about alien abduction. This is very well done, hitting on the sheer horror of what that process would actually be like. The one departure from reality here turns out to be the album’s real highlight.

Circle Of Beliefs

Another pretty standard Slayer cut that visits the topic of religon, one of Slayer’s favorites. The lyrics don’t break a ton of new ground, it is mostly a confrontational song and some of the stuff just sounds like words put together to fill the line. It’s not all a lost cause, there are nuggest of wisdom here and the song itself is pretty good.

SS-3

Up next is a song referencing notorious Nazi Reinhard Heydrich. He was the chief architect of the Holocaust and one of the SS’s darkest figures. The song doesn’t get much into Heydrich’s dark history other than to reference his nickname the Hangman of Prague. A lot of the lyrics are about how Heydrich was successfully assassinated by the Czech resistance in 1942, with the song’s title being the license plate of the car he was in when he was attacked.

Serenity In Murder

This song would serve as the album’s single as it was released as an EP and got a video. It is just as the title suggests – another song about murder. This was one of the songs focused on when controversy arose over the album’s dark themes. It is a pretty good song, reflective again of ’90’s Slayer and also maybe a hint of shifts in sound to come later in the decade.

213

With an album centering around murder, nothing would be more appropriate as a centerpiece than a deep dive into the realm of serial killer Jeffery Dahmer, one of America’s most notorious butchers. While a bunch of Slayer songs are words thrown together to compliment buzzsaw riffs, Tom Araya truly delved into this one and delivered a very haunting and specific account of Dahmer’s tortured psyche. The idea of consuming someone to make them a part of you is in vivid detail here and this song was crafted with care and is a standout. Dahmer likely wouldn’t have enjoyed the song as he did not celebrate his terrible crimes and also he wouldn’t have much time to – he was killed in prison just two months after the album’s release.

Mind Control

As I just said above, some Slayer songs are words thrown together over riffs. This closing track is one of those. It’s suitably heavy and brutal but it’s not covering any kind of new ground. It’s just Slayer being Slayer.

Divine Intervention would come out of the gate strong – the album debuted at number 8 on the US Billboard 200, at the time a record high position for Slayer. It would gain gold certification in both the US and Canada and has been one of the band’s most successful albums.

Despite that success, this one is kind of a quiet one when discussing Slayer albums. It doesn’t have the same legacy as Seasons… or other Slayer records. It is a bit of an underrated or forgotten album. Part of that might be down to the production, which every Slayer member has said could have been better. The album was recorded in fits and spurts across multiple studios and producers were changed a few times, so there is something to that. The music still works but it does lack certain sound dynamics, even for Slayer.

I personally do rate this album pretty highly, I enjoyed it right out of the gate in 1994 on release. Sure it’s a bunch of noise, but what else is Slayer supposed to be?