SLAYER — Haunting the Chapel (review)

SLAYER — Haunting the Chapel album cover EP · 1984 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
voila_la_scorie
Slayer are considered one of the Big Four thrash metal bands that helped establish the sub-genre, with bands like Exodus (possibly the oldest) and Testament also following close behind. But of the Big Four, two were typical Bay Area thrashers and one was a rare East Coast-bred thrash pack. Only Slayer sang about Satan and Hell, and no one seemed to have Tom Araya’s quake-inducing, biker barks. Though known for giving off the occasional tympanic membrane puncturing scream, Araya was less about shouting into the mic as he was about trying to make you fear the demon hordes as they charged at you from the furious sounds of Slayer’s explosive music. Listening to “Haunting the Chapel” now, I feel Slayer has less in common with Metallica, Anthrax, and Megadeth and fit in more at a dinner party for Kreator, Venom, Bathory, and Possessed.

This was my introduction to Slayer back in 1984 and thanks to my enjoyment of this album I was quick to pick up “Hell Awaits” (though strangely I never got “Show No Mercy”). The three songs on this EP have an intensity and fury to shake down pillars and stone walls. The band know that they want to be fast but still deliver a structured approach betraying their NWoBHM influences. On the re-issue, the additional track “Aggressive Perfector” sounds more like a band trying to outpace a late-seventies Judas Priest speed-burner with guitar solos loosely based on classic JP and Araya wailing a high Halford-ish note at the end.

This is quite an excellent little package of songs. Though the production quality lags behind the intensity of the music, the ambition to blow open the Gates of Hell is very clear as Hades.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
voila_la_scorie wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Sure. I have Reign in Blood, South of Heaven, and Seasons in the Abyss but somehow Haunting the Chapel still impresses me the most. Of course there were only three songs to start with so it's not like there's much room to blow it with a mediocre song.
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Haunting the Chapel is my favorite early Slayer release along with Live Undead. I was never a big fan of neither Show No Mercy nor Hell Awaits. Not that they are bad quality releases in any way, but I just prefer Slayer from "Reign in Blood" onwards.
voila_la_scorie wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Unitron, once I hear Hell Awaits again I might agree with you on that favourite Slayer release remark.
Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Good review, I love this EP. You know, it might actually be my favorite Slayer release, all of the songs rain down with killer riffs.

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Oud Zeer Atmospheric Sludge Metal
ONTAARD
Buy this album from MMA partners
Oud Zeer Sludge Metal
THROWING BRICKS
Buy this album from MMA partners
War. Metal Related
WHORES.
Buy this album from MMA partners
The First Breath Is The Beginning Of Death Sludge Metal
IDIOT CHILD
Buy this album from MMA partners
Morbid Curiosities Sludge Metal
LUURCH
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 1 day ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 1 day ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 2 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed