South of Heaven - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

South of Heaven was released on July 5, 1988, and was the final Slayer album distributed via Def Jam Records. When label co-founders Russell Simmons and Rubin parted ways, Slayer signed to Rubin's newly founded Def American Recordings label. The album peaked at number 57 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and on November 20, 1992, became Slayer's second album to be certified gold in the United States. South of Heaven was awarded silver certification in the United Kingdom on January 1, 1993, Slayer's first record to do so in that country.

Slayer's official biography states that "some critics praised the album as demonstrating Slayer's desire to grow musically and avoid repeating themselves." Alex Henderson of Allmusic described the record as "disturbing and powerful," while Joe Matera of Ultimate Guitar deemed the album a slight departure; he wrote that while the pace was slowed down, it "didn't sacrifice any of the heaviness inherent in Slayer's music."

Reviewing the 2003 Slayer box set Soundtrack to the Apocalypse, Adrien Begrand of PopMatters described the album as "their most underrated, and on this set, its five selections show how highly the band thinks of the record." KNAC.com's Peter Atkinson was also positive, saying the album has a "grandiosity and imposing presence" which makes the record "so magnificent." Grave's Ola Lindgren and Bolt Thrower's Karl Willetts both rate South of Heaven as amongst the top five albums of all time, while Max Kolesne of Brazilian death metal group Krisiun remembers hearing the song "Silent Scream" for the first time: "It just blew me away. It was like fast double-bass, fast kicks during the whole song. That was very inspiring for me." When discussing Slayer in an October 2007 interview, Evile frontman Matt Drake stated that while Reign in Blood "was just speed", South of Heaven proved that the group could write "slow material as well."

However, Kim Neely of Rolling Stone dismissed the album as "genuinely offensive satanic drivel." Slayer's official biography states: "The new sounds disappointed some of the band's fans who were more accustomed to the style of earlier releases." Michael Roberts of Westworld Online said this was due to some of the numbers moving "at the sludgier speed of Black Sabbath." Araya commented that the "album was a late bloomer—it wasn't really received well, but it kind of grew on everybody later."