Songs of My Life #65 - Slayer - Angel of Death - 1986

Songs of My Life #65 - Slayer - Angel of Death - 1986

Four years ago today, Slayer guitarist and songwriter Jeff Hanneman passed away. His influence on the career of the band was enormous, most especially the balance he brought to the writing process. He wrote or contributed to most of the best songs the band has produced, and his absence has been noticeable in that respect in recent years.

This song leads off the amazing Reign in Blood album, in many respected people's opinion the foremost thrash album of all time. Hanneman wrote it about Nazi physician Josef Mengele, and the experiments he conducted during his reign of terror. Because he wrote it from Mengele's perspective, and nowhere in the lyrics does it say that he was an evil man, people condemned the song and the band. When asked about this, Hanneman said "When they read the lyrics, there's nothing I put in the lyrics that says necessarily he was a bad man, because to me – well, isn't that obvious? I shouldn't have to tell you that".

Fast, heavy, raucous, scintillating. Angel of Death has it all. It is a masterpiece of the thrash metal genre, and is one of many songs that Jeff Hanneman gave to us that act as his continuing tribute. Four years on, and his loss to music and to Slayer is still hugely significant.

Play it. Crank it. \m/ \m/