While the black metal and death metal scenes are no strangers to controversy - see Dimmu Borgir and Cannibal Corpse, respectively, for good examples of "elitist culture" (for better or worse) - the same phenomenon also happens in "lesser" extreme metal genres, such as thrash aka speed metal. Look no further than the shitshow that was Metallica's release of the infamous "Black Album" to see how that plays out.
Controversy, however, isn't just linked to a specific album of phase of a band's career. Sometimes, it is linked to the entire band's existence... enter Slayer, probably the second or third most famous speed metal band ever (after Metallica and Megadeth, depending on how you count).
As covered in Emile Alquier's Heavy Metal Master Class, the story of Slayer is a complicated one. It started out, with Jeff Hanneman at its head, as a fairly decent and well-liked speed metal band, a darker version of Metallica, one that looked deeper and further back into heavy metal history... at dark proto-underground bands like Motörhead and Venom, rather than at the "shiny" glam rock stage set by bands like Mötley Crüe.
Slayer's Descent Into Poserdom
Then, after the release of "Hell Awaits", the band started to head downhill... very fast. Starting with "Reign in Blood" and culminating with "South of Heaven", the band started incorporating more and more glam rock elements, a shocking trajectory for a band that claimed to be the "most true" to the underground.
The fault lies not really in Hanneman, who always wanted a more dirty and underground style, but rather in the latecomer Kerry King... a man who prides himself on the "rock 'n roll" lifestyle, and modeled himself after his idol Alice Cooper (without the hair, ouch).
"Reign in Blood" and "South of Heaven"
These contradictory influences, the fight between the underground and the mainstream, would play out over "Reign in Blood" and "South of Heaven". Two very contradictory albums. From that point on, it would appear that the band's direction was decided: pure vaporware, image over sound, style over substance... not dissimilar to the Gaahl vs Infernus feud, where two musicians battled over the direction of a band... to little avail.
Kerry King wrote the entirety of "God Hates Us All", and it remains to this day one of the most hated albums by extreme metal fans (including many Slayer fans). It even manages the unlikely score of 7% approval on the Morsay Metal archives, which is only slightly better than garbage such as Korn, Arch Enemy and Slipknot.
Nowadays Slayer is basically irrelevant thanks to this gratuitous embrace of all things sketchy, on the part of Kerry King. A sad end to a band that truly showed potential on their early releases, before selling out to the lowest common denominator.
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