Maps of Music

Diabolus in Musica (1998)

Where the lyrics of Diabolus in Musica take you, and where it was really made.

The title names a musical interval that medieval music rules did not allow, and the band tuned its guitars to C♯ for an album that was delayed by a label takeover.

Key places

Where the album was recorded (1998)

Recording site The Music Grinder (Hollywood) — The album was recorded at Ocean Way Recording and was complete by September 1997. The point is placed at city-center level only. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Additional recording and mixing (1998)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — Additional recording and mixing for the album took place at Hollywood Sound in Los Angeles. The point is placed at city-center level only. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Diabolus in Musica: eighth studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer
• Released June 9, 1998, by American Recordings
• Title is Latin for "The Devil in Music," referring to the tritone
• Guitarist Jeff Hanneman wrote most of the album's content
• Described as Slayer's most experimental album
• First Slayer album played mostly in C♯ tuning
• Lyrical themes include religion, sex, cultural deviance, death, insanity, war, and homicide

Background

• Paul Bostaph returned to Slayer in early 1997 after his short-lived side project The Truth About Seafood
• The band entered the recording studio a few months later
• Release was scheduled for the following month but delayed to mid-1998, after American Recordings was taken over by Columbia Records
• Adrien Begrand of PopMatters linked the album's tuned-down guitars, murky chords, and churning beats to the then-burgeoning nu metal scene
• Writer's accounts describe the album as groove metal, alternative metal, and thrash metal in a less traditional sense than the band's other work

Recording

• Recorded at Ocean Way Recording, and complete by September 1997
• Songs were written with Hanneman doing most of the composition work
• The album's dissonant interval theme shaped the title and some of the lyrical focus

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in 1981 in Huntington Park, California by Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman, Dave Lombardo and Tom Araya.
• Started by playing covers of Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Venom at parties and clubs in Southern California.
• Signed with Metal Blade Records after the song "Aggressive Perfector" appeared on Metal Massacre III.

Members

• Current lineup: Kerry King, Tom Araya, Paul Bostaph and Gary Holt; Holt joined in 2011 and became permanent after Hanneman's death in 2013.
• Former members include drummers Dave Lombardo (left three times) and Jon Dette.

Career

• Released twelve studio albums, including Reign in Blood (1986), widely described as one of the most influential thrash metal albums.
• Christ Illusion (2006) won a Grammy for "Eyes of the Insane", the band's first Grammy-related recognition.
• Disbanded in 2019 after a farewell tour and reunited for sporadic shows from 2024.
• Considered one of the "Big Four" of thrash metal alongside Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Sarah Vowell of Spin gave the album a four out of ten rating
• Ben Ratliff of The New York Times panned the album's murky production in a review of a Slayer concert at Irving Plaza
• Metal Hammer's Ian Winwood called Diabolus in Musica a fantastic album
• Joel McIver wrote in The Guardian that the album was as heavy and dark as the band's earlier releases while showing the groove style of nu metal
• Adrien Begrand of PopMatters called Diabolus in Musica a unique record in a 2003 review of the box set Soundtrack to the Apocalypse
• Blabbermouth.net reviewer Borivoj Krgin called the album a feeble attempt at incorporating updated elements into the group's sound

Reappraisal

• Kerry King has expressed regret for the musical direction of the album
• Paul Bostaph claims the album is his favorite, saying it was as experimental as Slayer got
• Tom Araya considers the album very underrated

Records

• Debuted at number 31 on the Billboard 200
• Sold 46,000 copies in the United States in its first week
• Sold over 306,000 copies in the United States by November 2009

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The working title of the album was "Violent by Design."
• Tom Araya jokingly said that people were executed for writing and using the interval.
• Songs from the album were rarely played live after drummer Dave Lombardo returned in 2002, with "Stain of Mind" the only constant.
• Slayer released a promotional three-track album called Diabolus in Musica Tour Sampler during the tour.
• Begrand believed the characteristics were adopted in response to the then-burgeoning nu metal scene.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact