Diabolus in Musica

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Diabolus in Música (Latin for "The Devil in Music") is the eighth studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on June 9, 1998, by American Recordings. Guitarist Jeff Hanneman wrote most of the album's content, which has been described as Slayer's most experimental. It was the band's first album to be played mostly in [[C tuning|CTemplate:Music tuning]], and named after a musical interval known for its dissonance. Lyrical themes explored on the album include religion, sex, cultural deviance, death, insanity, war, and homicide.

Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, Diabolus in Musica peaked at number 31 on the Billboard 200, selling over 46,000 copies in its first week of sales. By 2009, it had sold over 306,000 copies in the United States.

Writing, music, and recording

Paul Bostaph returned to Slayer in early 1997 after his short-lived side project The Truth About Seafood, and the band entered the recording studio a few months later.<ref name="PAUL BOSTAPH of Exodus, ex-Slayer"/> Diabolus in Musica was recorded at Ocean Way Recording,<ref name="AlbumNotes">Diabolus in Musica album notes, June 9, 1998. American Recordings.</ref> and complete by September 1997. It was scheduled to be released the following month, but got delayed until the middle of 1998, after American Recordings was taken over by Columbia Records.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman described the writing process as, "When we were writing this album I was looking for something to beat; I wanted something to beat, but nothing impresses me right now. Nothing sounded really aggressive or heavy enough to inspire me to beat it, so I just had to come up with my own shit."<ref name="Back And Black"/>

Adrien Begrand of PopMatters noted that Slayer introduced characteristics to its music including tuned down guitars, murky chord structures, and churning beats. He believed these characteristics were adopted in response to the then-burgeoning nu metal scene.<ref name="The Devil in Music"/> As a result, Diabolus in Musica has been described as the aforementioned genre,<ref name="The Devil in Music" /><ref name="RM">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> groove metal,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> alternative metal<ref name="RM" /> and thrash metal, though in a less traditional sense than the band's previous and subsequent work.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Album title and lyrical themes

Template:Listen Diabolus in Musica is a Latin term for "The Devil in Music" or tritone. Medieval musical rules did not allow this particular dissonance.<ref name="BBC">Template:Cite news</ref> According to one mythology, the interval was considered sexual and would bring out the devil; Slayer vocalist and bassist Tom Araya jokingly said that people were executed for writing and using the interval.<ref name="Back And Black">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Araya held concern about the lyrics that King penned to "In the Name of God", voicing his opinion to guitarist Hanneman. King's viewpoint was; "It's like, 'C'mon, man, you're in Slayer. You're the antichrist — you said it yourself on the first album!' You can't draw the line like that. Whether he agrees with it or not, he didn't write it — I wrote it. So you have to say, 'Well, it's just a part of being in this band.' Now Jeff and I, we don't give a fuck. If Jeff wrote something I had a problem with, I would never even raise a fucking finger. I'd be like, 'Fuck yeah, let's do it! Gonna piss someone off? Alright!'"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Touring and promotion

Following the release of the album, the band commenced the Diabolus in Musica tour. From 1998 to 1999, Slayer toured with Sepultura, System of a Down, Fear Factory, Kilgore, Clutch, Meshuggah, and Sick of It All.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Slayer released a promotional 3-track album called Diabolus in Musica Tour Sampler. The album features 3 tracks, one from Diabolus in Musica ("Stain of Mind"), "Ship of Gold" off tourmate Clutch's The Elephant Riders and "Suite-Pee" (Clean Version) from the debut album by System of a Down.

Reception

Diabolus in Musica was released on June 9, 1998, by American Recordings. In its first week of release, the album sold 46,000 copies in the United States,<ref name="Billboard1stWeek">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and debuted at number 31 on the Billboard 200.<ref name="Billboard">Template:Cite magazine</ref> By November 2009, it had sold over 306,000 copies in the US.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Reviewing the 2003 Slayer box set Soundtrack to the Apocalypse, Adrien Begrand of PopMatters called Diabolus in Musica "a unique record [...] It's as if they're stepping in to show the young bands how to do it right, as songs like 'Bitter Peace', 'Death's Head', and the terrific 'Stain of Mind' blow away anything that young pretenders have put out."<ref name="The Devil in Music">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Writing in The Guardian, journalist Joel McIver said although the album was as musically heavy and lyrically dark as any of Slayer's previous releases, it exhibited the groove-based style of the then-popular nu metal sound.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Metal HammerTemplate:'s Ian Winwood called Diabolus in Musica "a fantastic album", writing: "It manages to combine (and this is meant in the best possible sense) both the sharpness of new school metal with the songwriting prowess and musical quality we've come to expect from [Slayer]."<ref name="MetalHammerRev" />

However, not all reviews were positive. Reviewing a Slayer concert at Irving Plaza during the Diabolus in Musica tour, Ben Ratliff of The New York Times' panned the album for its murky production,<ref name="AVClub Hanneman RIP">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> saying: "Eight of the 11 songs on Diabolus in Musica, a few of which were played at the show, are in the same gray key, and the band's rhythmic ideas have a wearying sameness too."<ref name="NYTReview">Template:Cite news</ref> Reviewing Slayer's 2001 album God Hates Us All, Blabbermouth.net reviewer Borivoj Krgin described Diabolus in Musica as "a feeble attempt at incorporating updated elements into the group's sound, the presence of which elevated the band's efforts somewhat and offered hope that Slayer could refrain from endlessly rehashing their previous material for their future output."<ref name="Blabbermouth Review">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Sarah Vowell of Spin gave the album a four out of ten rating, stating that "Fifteen years into Slayer's career, they're still deploying the same fast beats and sluggish riffs and batty banter." concluding that "This is loudness without fun, blasphemy without subversion, darkness with no shades of gray. The drums are miked really well, though."<ref name="spin">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Songs from the album were rarely played live following the return of drummer Dave Lombardo in 2002, with "Stain of Mind" being the only constant.<ref name="Slayer's Kerry King: 'We've Never Tried To Be Anything We Weren't'">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Band members' views

Kerry King has expressed regret for the musical direction of Diabolus in Musica.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the "Nu Metal" episode of the 2011 VH1 documentary series Metal Evolution, he said the following in retrospect about the album:

Template:Cquote Contrarily, drummer Paul Bostaph claims the album is his favorite as he thought the album was "as experimental as Slayer got".<ref name="PAUL BOSTAPH of Exodus, ex-Slayer">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Araya also considers the album to be "very underrated".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Jeff Hanneman, who wrote most of the album's music, stated:

The biggest difference between this record and Divine Intervention [its 1994 predecessor] was that I wrote a lot of this one,” he explained. ‘With Divine… I was in a rut and couldn’t come up with riffs I like. Before I knew it, Kerry had most of it done. So, with this record I really started working hard from the beginning. I was thinking, ‘What do I want to hear on this record?’. If it sounds modern, it’s because we’re into modern music and that shows. The one thing I like about this record is that it is moody, by the time you get to the end, it reads like a book.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Personnel

Slayer

• Tom Araya – bass, vocals
• Kerry King – guitars
• Jeff Hanneman – guitars
• Paul Bostaph – drums

Technical personnel

• Rick Rubin – producer
• Howie Weinberg – mastering
• Greg Gordon – engineer
• Brian Davis – assistant engineer
• John Tyree – assistant engineer
• Sebastian Haimerl – assistant engineer
• Allen Sanderson – assistant engineer
• Exum – photography
• Frank – art direction
• Wade Goeke – assistant engineer

Charts

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Chart (1998)	Peak position