Review: Hell At Last – A Tribute to Slayer

Various Artists
“Hell At Last – A Tribute to Slayer”
(Oracle)

Slayer gets taken through the death metal wringer by 12 different bands on this unnecessary tribute.

The first band up, Nephasth, ruins “War Ensemble” by removing all Dave Lombardo’s bombast and replacing it with ridiculous overkill.  Covering Slayer with the intention of making the songs more intense and brutal is a mistake, plain and simple, a big fucking mistake.  This doesn’t bode well for the rest of the album.

And speaking of the rest of the album, what the fuck is up with all the Lovecraftian band names?  Nephasth?  Serebus?  Acerbus?  Mictlantechutli?  Are there kids who can say with a straight face, “Mictlantechutli rocks!”?  Wasn’t Mictlantechutli the little nymph from Dimension X that constantly befuddled Superman as he tried to get the wee sprite to say his own name backwards?  Iltuhcetnaltcim rocks!

The second band covers a song called “Gemini”.  Never heard the original so I won’t comment on their puking vocal redux.

Next up, “Altar of Sacrifice” is demolished by Oni.  Blech!  Deteriorot fucks up “Read Between the Lies”.

Serebus eviscerates “Ghosts of War”.

Evil Incarnate are.

Universal Eye is confused by “South of Heaven”, but at least try to give us something different. You get a sticker on your chart and an “A” for effort!  Some of this cover ain’t all that bad.

Superman’s foe actually pulls off a very competent black metal job on “Crionics”, and even pulls in a Maiden vibe.  It sounds fun, if you can believe that!  I’m saving this one in my iTunes!  Best job on the comp.  Hot stuff, babycakes!  I’m almost sorry I made a joke of their funny-bunny band name.

Engrave pull off a relatively faithful rendition of “Evil Has no Boundaries”.

Nokturne L.A., not to be confused with any Nokturne not from L.A., treats us to a faster, growlier “Raining Blood” and who’d have thunk otherwise?

Acerbus, the guy living across the street from Serebus, plays “Angel of Death,” and they really make me wish they hadn’t.  Just awful.  Totally unredeemable with the worst bass sound in history.

Finally, Enraged does absolutely nothing with their cover of “Black Magic”.  A fittingly crappy conclusion to a not at all surprisingly crappy tribute.  If I was in Slayer I’d be deeply saddened by what I had wrought.