Slayer - Haunting The Chapel review
| Band: | Slayer |
| Album: | Haunting The Chapel |
| Style: | Thrash metal |
| Release date: | May 1984 |
| Guest review by: | spirit_inblack |
01. Chemical Warfare
02. Captor Of Sin
03. Haunting The Chapel
04. Aggressive Perfector [CD Re-release bonus]
Where should I start? This is the first EP that I ever bought and I can surely say that it was worth the $10 that I paid for it. The cover art isn't very unique at all by Slayer standards, but I do love the logo in white and red. It has a really evil look.
The production is amazing. The bass is more audible than in Show No Mercy and it gives the album more of a thick sound. I don't understand why this production wasn't used on Hell Awaits, and I can only dream of what Show No Mercy would have sounded like with such production.
Dave Lombardo has improved since Slayer's previous release and his drumming adds a lot to the music on this EP. The two guitarists have also become more technical since the last release and the song structures are now different. For example, at the start of Captor Of Sin there is a solo. How many Slayer songs have a solo at the start?
Chemical Warfare is indeed one of the best Slayer songs on this release, if not the best. It is really fast and I like the lyrics. The solos on this release are awesome and shredding, but there are one or two that are fairly weak (King's solo in Chemical Warfare for example).
The bonus track, Aggressive Perfector, is one of the earliest Slayer songs, but this version of the song is slow and the fast version found on Reign In Blood is a lot better.
If you like your early Slayer, then buy this. The lyrics are more intelligent than Show No Mercy, and the band pulls off a better performance, which is enhanced by the killer production job.
Overall, one of metal's best EP's.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 10 |
| Originality: | 9 |
| Production: | 10 |
Written by spirit_inblack | 09.11.2006
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments: 12
Visited by: 102 users
| spirit_inblack harshhead Posts: 715  |
The title track is also a damn good track. One thing I never really understood was why chemical warfare wasn't included on Live Undead.
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| ThrashMetal_Rulz Account deleted |
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| __Az__ Posts: 859  |
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| theflyingmachine Posts: 499  |
This is actually my favorite Slayer album. Minute for minute, this album is truly excellent.
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
its very good.. though show no mercy was better, but this one is really nice, beside beeing just an 4 track's EP.
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| Timelord Posts: 276  |
This is the first Slayer recording I ever bought. I was looking for harder more aggressive music at the time and kept seeing these little black and white ads in Hit Parader magazine. Slayer just looked like they kicked ass(back then with no internet you didn't have much to go on except looks of the band and album cover and I got burnt a few times lol). The cassette looked so generic the cover was white with the artwork on the middle, on the side was red letters: Slayer Haunting the Chapel Restless metal blade. I was BLOWN away!! Chemical Warfare was and is the shit. It only had three songs on it and I wanted more. Next day I bought "Live Undead" because they didn't have "Show no Mercy". Not long after "Hell Awaits" came out and thats another story. One of the best EP's ever alongside "Tragic Serenades" by Celtic Frost.
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| ioannisk Posts: 75  |
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| Dangerboner Lactation Cnslt Posts: 7262  |
Written by theflyingmachine on 17.06.2007 at 01:48 I just wish that there were more minutes 
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| theflyingmachine Posts: 499 |
I listened to about 5 Slayer albums in succession the other day and have to think that Hell Awaits, Haunting the Chapel, and Reign in Blood are their best. South of Heaven, Seasons of the Abyss, and Divine Intervention are great, but they aren't as raw as the albums prior. But I find Haunting the Chapel to be their best...it is catchier and more coherent than Hell Awaits, and just a little more raw than Reign in Blood,
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| CCorpse4life Posts: 3 |
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| Maco Pvt Funderground Posts: 3593  |
This is awesome, and I prefer the "slower version" of Aggressive Perfector than the faster.
---- Crackhead Megadeth reigns supreme.
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| BlankFile Posts: 706 |
. It owns every other EP i've ever heard 
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