I Hate You

I think it’s safe to say that almost anyone, no matter who they are, can appreciate a good joke; good being the key word. However, one person’s opinion of what is good may be the exact opposite of the next person’s, because it’s all based on perspective. Well, I happen to have an opinion on this joke attempted by the Slayer crew; it sucks. Seriously, what was going through the bands mind when they decided that releasing a single with one pathetic cover song would be a good idea? Additionally, of all bands, why did they choose Verbal Abuse?

You’d think a song like this would be completely unfitting for Slayer’s style, even if it is only a cover. Listening to these childish lyrics about how much they hate someone (“I HAAAAAAAATE YOUUU”) is embarrassing enough to make even punk rockers, who are more often than not the masters of retarded lyrics, grimace. Tom Araya’s signature voice is barely recognizable at first, because it is somewhat concealed by vocal distortion as he yells and wails the lyrics with seemingly no effort at all. Accompanied by a vexatious vocal performance are a few simple power chords followed by some light strumming played over and over again; no variation whatsoever. At the 1:17 mark there is a short and slightly speedy guitar solo which sounds somewhat nifty and uncloaks at least some sense creativity in the musicians, but this song was a failure before it even started.

The steady and gradual mid-paced drums are really the only instrument in this song that strikes me as being halfway decent. Much like the guitars, they are extremely recursive, but they definitely demonstrate more competence than the guitar players on the level of musicianship and skill with more variation and slight speed changes. The overall song structure isn’t contrived in an interesting manner; it reeks of monotony. I wouldn’t be surprised if each band member was given two riffs to play for two minutes, because that is what it sounds like. Picture Slayer playing a crappy pseudo-heavy punk song with a solo and you will pretty much understand how this sounds.

Shouting vocals with tedious and premature nature of the lyrics only portray the ineptitude of the bands ability to insult anyone intelligently. Thankfully, Slayer weren’t responsible for the creation of this song; but it’s annoying to think that the talent of Slayer went to complete waste by playing one or two amateur riffs. Do yourself a favor and avoid this at all costs.